Nethergate FAQ/Walkthrough Version 1.2, 1/31/02, By Matt P What's new: Added a bunch of changes from Zeviz, who has also made a webpage of this faq! (www.geocities.com/zeviz1/nethergate) Nethergate is copyright spiderweb software. It's a great game, with at least one replay guaranteed. Buy it and support this great software company. Supporting them will have them continue production of great games such as Nethergate. Spiderweb has also made such games as Geneforge, Avernum (1&2), Exile (1-3), and Blades of Exile! Check them out (www.spidweb.com)! FAQ purpose: Why this walkthrough? There are few Nethergate sites out there. Since the Spiderweb message boards opened up (again, check them out at www.spidweb.com), there has been a subdued but renewed interest in Nethergate. This FAQ is intended to be a source for information about Nethergate in part, and also I hope to acquire more information about the game, as my own playing experience has been somewhat limited. This is my second attempt at a walkthrough. Unfortunately, this game is a lot more non-linear than Avernum 2, and the levels are bigger, but the items are less noticeable, so there is a quality difference between the 2 FAQs. This is a rather rough version of the FAQ, but more versions shall follow. Some people have offered their assistance, and full credit will be given where it's due to all whom aid this FAQ. If you'd like to post this FAQ on your site, please request permission by emailing me at elementalizard@aol.com. If you post this on your site without permission, I will ask you to remove it, and definitely won't let you post it again. It's not too hard just to contact me. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Map II. Skills, assessment III. Character Trait assessment IV. Spell assessment V. Walkthrough VI. Index A. Blessing Pool item list B. Spell locator C. NPC stats D. Riddle answers E. Either/Or quests F. Sylak Items G. Bugs and cheats VII. FAQ Version -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- I. The world of Nethergate consists of a 5X5 map, with almost every square possessing one major dungeon. The following map is referenced throughout this FAQ: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N P 1 Goagh-Nar 2 Aerie 3 Vale of the Sould 4 Goblin Pits 5 Nethergate 6 Lair of Reptrakos 7 Faerie Bazaar 8 Celt Shrine 9 Blackfang woods 0 Galag-Trav A Vanarium B Stone Circle C Spire D Ruined Hall E Annwn F Maze of Thorns G Selkie Home H Three Crones I Burial Glen J Spider Area K Castle Aethdoc L Hollow Hills M Hagfen N Abandoned Mines P Shadow Valley Fort On each section, there are several things to do. The dungeons consist of several floors usually, and the outdoors section always has something unique, and probably a hidden item somewhere. If you're lucky enough, you may find it! -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- II. Base skills Strength: Affects your carrying capacity, your damage, and your weaponry skills. It is always worth increasing this skill. Dexterity: Affects the timing of your attack, your weapon skills, and your ability to dodge. It is always worth increasing this skill. Intelligence: Affects the number of spell points you have, the strength of your spells, you rune reading, item lore, and willpower. Increase this for your spellcasters often. It doesn't help your warriors. Endurance: Affects your hit points and resistance. Skip it. It's too expensive, and has minimal benefits. Go for hardiness instead. Weaponry Melee: Affects your chance to hit with swords, axes, cudgels and other weapons. Does not affect damage (from Zeviz). It's worth increasing up to a point, although you'll eventually reach 100% hit rate and will want to stop. Spears: Affects your chance to hit with spears. Does not affect damage. It's worth increasing up to a point, although you'll eventually reach 100% hit rate and will want to stop. Javelins: Affects your chance to hit with javelins. Celts- Go for slings instead- they're cheaper, and you don't have to worry about ammunition. Romans- Go for these. You'll find plenty of javelins, and you're most skilled with these. They do more damage than slings. Slings: Affects your chance to hit with slings. Celts- Go for it, especially for your spellcasters. You'll want something to use when not casting spells. Romans- skip it for the most part. You won't find many slings until later in the game, when missile weapons become less important. Armor Use: Get as needed. It reduces the penalty associated with wearing heavy armor, and will restore AP lost if you have on too much. Berserker: Increases damage at the expense of defense. Your choice. It's a good way to hit things harder, but try to couple it with a point in defense. Romans can't obtain this skill. Hardiness: Blocks points of damage. Get this instead of endurance. It's better. Defense: Reduces enemy's chance of hitting you. Cheap and worthwhile. Roman Training: Very potent, and a good way to nullify the effects of heavy armor (however, it does not restore lost APs- from Zeviz). Can make even the wussiest character more powerful than the Celts. Get it when it's cheap. Celts can't obtain this skill. ??? (Crystal Wand): Affects your chance to hit with crystal wands. The most powerful skill out there, which you don't get till late. Good thing too, or it'd spoil the game. Romans don't seem to get as much skill in this as the Celts. Druidism Druidism: Affects your spell points and resistance. Also limits your spell growth. Get a few points, but try to increase mainly intelligence. Health Circle: Affects your health spell strength and level. Initially, have one druid focus on health and the other on war. Eventually you'll want to balance the two out. War Circle: Affects your war spell strength and level. Initially, have one druid focus on health and the other on war. Eventually you'll want to balance the two out. Beast Circle: Affects your beast spell strength and level. Limited by your war circle strength. Craft Circle: Affects your craft spell strength and level. Limited by your health circle strength. Spirit Circle: Affects your spirit spell strength and level. The hardest to raise. Limited by your beast and craft circle skills. Romans are forbidden from getting points in this circle. Useful Skills First Aid: Affects your skill with healing kits, and potion making. Not too useful, but moreso than it is for the Avernum series. Spells usually work better. Romans will find more use for it. Herbcraft: Helps you find herbs, and increases your potion making. Go for a few points. ??? (Faerie Lore): Affects your luck with some special encounters. This skill is required. 2-3 points for everyone are all that you need. Romans can't train in this skill, but can gain it from a few special quests. Woodscraft: Helps you find herbs, food, and avoid monsters. Go for a few points, it sure doesn't hurt. (Zeviz:)Some woodscraft is also necessary in finding a spell and doing some minor quests outdoors. Eventually you'll want about 10 points (counted for your entire party). Barter: Money isn't usually a problem, but with this, it's even less of a problem. A point or two every now and then doesn't hurt. Luck: Affects random encounters, resistance, and gives you a chance to avoid death. Go for it. ??? (Tool Use): Gained through a few special encounters for the celts, trainable for the Romans. This skill gives huge bonuses to Romans. A few points results in a nearly 100% success rate. Very useful, try maxing your skill out for at least one character. Celts can't train in this skill. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- III. Character Traits: A note on experience penalties, from Zeviz: I just ran some test and here are the results: 1. Experience is split completely randomly between your party members. So if a goblin is worth 8exp, and you have 2 guys, they could split it 5/3, 4/4, 8/0, or any other way. This means that is doesn't matter who strikes the final blow. 2. Experience bonuses and penalties are random and appear to be less severe than stated. For example a single character with 67% exp bonus got 8.7exp per goblin. A character with 50%exp penalty got over 7 exp per goblin. There was also a slight difference in the rate at which they were gaining skill points, but not nearly as much as I expected. More tests are necessary, but experience penalties don't look nearly as severe as they are supposed to be. Positive Faerie Blood: I haven't tried it, but it doesn't sound half-bad. Toughness: Reduces damage. A good skill. Nimble Fingers: One person should have this. Preferably a spellcaster, since they'll have high intelligence and decent dexterity, so will have a naturally high tool use skill. Recuperation: Faster healing can be replicated with jewelry. Not worth it according to Fallen on the message boards. Beastmaster: You may want it. I never remembered to use it. According to General Baziron, it's useful at the beginning (but steadily drops off, in my opinion). Fast on Feet: Increases your AP occasionally, as well as you attack timing. Worthwhile. Especially for a warrior, according to Zeviz. Faerie Familiar: You may want it. I never remembered to use it. According to General Baziron, it's useful at the beginning (but steadily drops off, in my opinion). Nature Lore: Cheap and useful. Go for it for at least one person. Highly Alert: Okay, but there aren't many paralyzing monsters, and very few sleep casting monsters. Mighty Warrior: Makes you better in combat. Not too bad a skill, although it's quite expensive. May only increase to hit %, which would make it pretty crummy (from Zeviz). Further investigation is needed. Negative Cursed at Birth: Too painful. Skip it. Sluggish: Being slow isn't too bad. Your choice. Works well for Druids (Nooboon). Prevents you from hasting druids. (Zeviz) Frail: Not too bad (Zeviz). Your choice. Berserk rage: Give everyone this. It should be a positive trait- your characters act faster and hit harder, for the cost of getting hit more often. Sure, you don't have control over it, but you're still very powerful. Berserk gives you 20% to hit, and improved damage. Rational Mind: Myeh, if you're Celtish- you probably haven't even heard of Pythagorus. Skip it. Romans can go for it, but the experience penalties in this game aren't too big a deal. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- IV. SPELLS: Health: Minor Healing: A useful, cheap way of getting healed. It's a standard spell to the Celt repetoire. It restores ~10HP. Purge Venom: A necessary spell, removes venom caused by disease and a few rare creatures. Alertness: Okay, but not too useful. Few creatures cast sleep. Healing: A stronger version of minor healing, it restores ~30 HP. Recovery: Cures disease. A necessary spell, since you will be doing some swamp roaming. Unshackle Mind: For the few cases in which you get paralyzed, it's useful. Total Healing: A powerful spell, the top of the line for healing. Raise Dead: Supposedly restores life, but it requires a balm of life. Doesn't work too well, in my experience. Just reload. War: Battle Rage: One of the three standard Celt attack spells. Cast it before any big fight, at least until you get beast ceremony. Shielding: One of the three standard Celt attack spells. Cast it before any big fight, at least until you get beast ceremony. Lance of Fire: A damaging but costly spell that grows with your level. Save it for tougher enemies, like fights with goblin shamen. Quicksilver: One of the three standard Celt attack spells. Cast it before any big fight, at least until you get beast ceremony. Beast Ceremony: Very nice. Cast it before any major fight, if you can. It'll save you a lot of time and SP. Darts of Ice: A nice, multi-enemy attack spell. It'll kill a lot of things. Heartshock: Very potent damaging spell. Use it on very tough enemies. Hero of Old: The best spell in the game. Unfortunately, you can't get it till late. Beast: Call Aid: Summons a minor creature, usually wolves. Bleh. Bite of the Serpent: May poison your target. Doesn't work too often. Coil of the Serpent: May slow your target. Again, doesn't work too often. Charm Beast: Not too bad, although I usually just kill the beast. Beast Call: Summons stronger beasts- worgs, giant lizards, plague and mung rats. Okay. Capture Soul: Get a basilisk, and maybe a few other critters. Then bring them back with simulacrum. Unfortunately, you can't use it in many places. Simulacrum: The second half to the spell Capture Soul. Nice and potent. Mighty Beast: Summons big monsters- foul rats, dark wolves, lava and lizards. Craft: Create Light: Generates some light. Not too bad. Piercing Sight: Scans for secret doors on your map. Very useful, but expensive. The map will give some indication of secret doors, just become familiar with it and you'll see what I mean. Pass Portal: Unlocks doors. Necessary until you get a lot of tool use. Still, an expensive spell. Remove Curse: Save before equipping an item, then try to take it off. If you can't, then it's cursed, and you should get rid of it. Voila, no need for Remove curse! Word of Recall: Nice spell that instantly warps you back home to Nethergate. It must be used outdoors, though. Create Food: A necessary spell, especially in some of the later areas. Cast this spell whenever you're going on a long walk, just to build up some free food. Break Barrier: A necessary spell, somewhat hard to acquire. Stone Guardian: Summons up a carytid, a very powerful monster. Probably better than all of the beast circle spells. Spirit: Disrupt Spirit: Hurts the undead. Very useful in some locations. Sever Seal: An almost necessary spell. Get it from the stone circle, don't pay the outlandish price of salespeople. Spirit Ceremony: Decent way of healing, although I prefer simpler spells like heal and purge venom. (Zeviz:) Costing an equivalent of 1.5 heal spells, this is the most cost-effective way to heal yourself. The only problem is that it can not be cast in combat Ravage Life: A potent and useful spell. Unfortunately, by the time you get it, you're probably more than powerful enough and don't need to use it. Control Life: Interesting spell, I don't use it much though. Let me know if it's any good. Soul Lance: Powerful spell, moreso than ice lances. Call Spirit: Summons some undead. Okay, but you can probably do better with your SP. Doom: Very potent and hard to acquire. Use with care. Nether spells Miraculous Revival: I couldn't get this one to work. Let me know if you can. Wind Warriors: Summons some ultra-powerful wind warriors. Call Hunt: Summons some big wolves. Wind Warriors is probably better. Create Elixir: Makes a beast elixir, which is very potent. Unfortunately, it costs a skill point, which you may not be willing to spend. The only Nether spell usable by the Romans. Zeviz: Why would you want to permanently loose a skill point if you can make the same elixir using alchemy or buy it in a store (what else are you going to do with your money anyway?) Clouds of the night: Powerful, multitarget spell. Probably the most worthwhile Nether spell. GENERAL HINTS: Food is good and necessary, unlike Avernum. Take as much as you can find, even the nasty monster innards. When fighting, first cast battle spells like rage, shielding, and quicksilver. You'll kill your enemies with haste. Save the damaging spells for tougher enemies. Grab everything you can carry at first and sell it. You may have to leave the dungeon a few times, but it's worth it. As you get higher in level, don't bother- just pick up the valuable stuff. If you can't get to someplace, most likely you don't have the proper equipment or spell. Either that, or you need to play as the other party. There are two big mysteries- Pearlblossom, and the puzzle box. Any information on these two items would be most appreciated. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- V. CELT WALKTHROUGH NETHERGATE (5) Q: Retrieve the bronze disk. You wake up, confused in your hut. Get your items, and equip them. You should wander around a bit, and get acquainted with the controls. To the south there is a hut with 2 potion recipes. In order to make these potions, you'll need to have adequate skill. To the north is Morgan who will buy, sell, and identify items. Mugain is a druid who will heal you. Cormac gives you a mission to retrieve the Bronze disk and will sell you war 1-6, heal 1-6. Bituitus will train you (press the question mark under your character's name. Elara will fix you food every now and then, grab the bread for 6 food. Leave Nethergate and circle around to find some poor leather armor, a fine leather helm, and 30c. Your next stop is the Goblin pits. OUTSIDE: There's a misletoe patch to the SE. In the stone circle, you can get into a fight with some goblins (with a regular large metal shield as your reward). Further to the east, you'll find some salespeople. GOBLIN PITS (4) Q: Deliver hermit's scroll to hermit 3. OUTSIDE: There are some goblin totems with goblins to the east. In the center of the map, you'll find a fine spear hidden among the trees. There's a blind man at the crossroads, give him coins to be a good person. Elona sells potions and rings of protection, but at high prices. Find your own instead. There are some goblins guarding the pits if you try to enter from the east. Kill them for 15 coins, 15 food, and a healing elixir. LATER: On the W side of the river, if you're lucky (based on skill) you'll find 5 coins. There is the second hermit to the NE. You can give the first hermit's scroll to it to get another scroll. FIRST FLOOR: This is a large dungeon, full of small secrets. The main object is to retrieve the bronze disk, but you should also grab the three keys. *********************HINT********************************************* THE KEYS: There are 6 Sylak keys found throughout the game. The first 3 come pretty readily, but the last 3 are a chore to obtain. Nonetheless, you want to obtain them all prior to doing the later quests. Once you find one, many doors and chests will open up to you, enabling you to loot as you please. You can get a lot of good stuff this way, including valuable jewelry and potions. ********************************************************************** Head south to the unguarded areas. If you try to take the fort head on, the goblins will stone you. When you're wandering around to the south, you'll have to fight some giant rats. There's a nearby secret area with a sling, some food, herbs, and javelins. Eventually you'll make your way up to the Fort Proper, and will get an option to fight or hide from the Goblins. Do either (I like to fight, it gives decent experience), and then head down the stairs. SECOND FLOOR: The Goblins to the north of where you enter have a wand of ice. In the hallway to the northeast, there is a secret passage to small room with food, coins and herbs. You're noted to its existence by a text box popping up saying, "This wall looks fuzzy" or something like that. Continuing east, you'll find a Fomorian with the Bronze disk, and a secret room with coins in the wolf room. Nearby this Fomorian are the stairs to level 3. You'll find key 2 in the secret room with lumber. Elsewhere, you'll find a blessed dagger on the altar (guarded by goblin shamans and such) which summons 2 lost souls when taken. To the NE are the halls of learning. In the first hall of learning you'll find the hasting draught recipe. In the second hall of learning, the west book summons 2 lost souls, and the east book will teach you 1-4 craft circle spells. In the third hall a book teaches you beast circle 1-4, and gives you some later info. To the SW of this level is an arena with a secret room with a fine spear, and fine leather armor. You have to fight a lizard to get out, then pull a wheel. To the SE there is a room that you get up through the third floor, and it has a blessed leather armor, 20 coins, and a jade necklace. Descend to the third floor. THIRD FLOOR: The room to the SE leads up to floor 2. There is a pool with crone, it just supplies story info. In the "Rat room" there is a secret passage to coins, and food. Key 3 can be obtained by getting to the body on the ledge- go around the N side and search for secret passages. The fire lizards to the SW are guarding a cursed ring and a few other items. Finally, you can't get to the NW as the Celts, but can as the Romans. Now head back up to the first floor. FIRST FLOOR: You can explore the area with the goblins now that you're better equipped and have more experience. There's a lot of stuff here, and the rooms have nice small treasure. The Goblin chief has key I. If you want you can kill the sheep and cows to get some meat and amber charms (non-magical). Now that you have all of the keys, you can open up the doors found in this dungeon: First floor: II- wolf pen door: fine leather armor, potions. III- Goblin room door: Wand of ice, draught. Second floor: I or II- NW corner: experience pool (2 skill points). SE corner, undead area: 100c, chain mail. Fomorian home: fine chain mail, ring of skill. I, II or III- in arena: Woad, scroll (darts of ice). Third floor: I or II: NE, secret room: healing herbs, ceremonial dagger. III- SE: Monsters attack if you try for the chest south. The trapped chests south have coins, a silver ring, several potions and a ring. Head back to Nethergate, and give Cormac your disk. Cartumnus will see you (5xp) now. He tells you to go to the Ruined hall. Before doing so, you may want to hit a few more areas, and build up your levels for a bit. The best place to do this for now is Galag-Trav. Alternatively, you may want to hurry through the initial story and grab a fifth PC in Vanarium, then have them join you in accumulating skill points. GALAG-TRAV (0) This is a relatively easy level with some decent rewards. Q: Retrieve Hathwisa. OUTSIDE: There is a misletoe patch in trees, and a fine sword in the looped trees. There's a talking fish on river's edge. North of Goagh- Nar is a goblin with a skull, the same is true to the south (you must first have received the quest from area 9). The south goblin will attack you, the north won't. I've not seen any difference between having mercy and not in this case. There's a bunch of cheating goblins here too. In order to have them play fair, bring your own dice. Or, better yet, bring Sylak's dice! When you do this, they attack you (minor reward). FLOOR 1: Bevan of the Iceni greets you when you enter. He wants you to find his daughter. Sounds like a worthy quest. In the Fomorian shrine, destroy the altar (5xp) to summon up a spectral warrior and wolf. Kill them, take the knife, then check W for a box with herbs. West of here there's a room with a secret passage with a fire barrier. Beyond is a trapped chest containing a ring of accuracy, a set of magic lockpicks, and a few other goodies. Shade room S, go through doors to find a battle axe. There are 3 buttons, 1 N, 1 SSE, 1 SSW. Pushing the S buttons followed looping around to the N enables you to pass this level without too much hassle. There's a secret pillar with a button to push to the SW, use this to access the area slightly east, there's a III key on the body there. There's a final button on the pillar near the stairs, use it when you need to leave, after taking the stairs down. There's a box that requires either keys I, II, or III: NW crypt- a wight and a tomb with a fine chain mail (sell it). There's also a pillar with information. FLOOR 2: Hug the walls, and avoid the pit. There are Fomorians up above who would love to throw a lot of rocks at you. You'll want to make your way to the SE, and open the door, freeing the annoying Hathwisa. Get her out of here after fighting off all the goblins she attracts (5xp, endurance bracelet). There's a secret room SE, with ruby hidden in pile of skulls. In the fire lizard room in the central SE is a body with a fine spear, fine leather armor, and some lockpicks. To the NE is a secret area with a barrier blocking the passage, which is passable, but damaging. Open the box (and get poisoned) for a fury helm, which is a great piece of armor, as anyone can wear it (it's non- encumbering). Give it to a druid. To the N is a passage to get up, and fight all those stone-throwing Fomorians. They're a tough foe, and you may want to wait for a while. The leader is a Fomorian with a ruby imbedded in his skull, the object of a later quest. Go ahead and grab it, if you can. Also while you're here, check the NW room for a bunch of goodies (gold ring, wine, entertaining scrolls, paper, magic lockpicks). Near the altar there's a secret chamber with 4 spiritual herbs nearby. The area to the SW can't be explored fully as the Celts. Now that you're done there, you'll want to head someplace else, maybe to the Burial Glen. BLACKFANG WOODS (9) This is the only outdoor section without any indoor dungeon. Q: Retrieve the lady's two skulls. OUTSIDE: Stay away from the forest, at least until you have good reason to explore them (which you eventually will). Go up to the rock on the S side of the river to get a minor quest. Returning the skulls nets you a wand of the coils. The skulls are found near Galag-Trav. RUINED HALL (D) You can't get here till after you speak with the crones. Approach the building, and you'll be informed that such is the way of things. OUTSIDE: Pearlblossom- no clue on this one, her earrings don't seem to be retrievable. You can't cross the west bridge until after you've done everything in the Ruined Hall. At the Shepherd's place, killing the sheep summons a Fomorian and 2 worgs. There's a patch of spiritual herbs hidden in the NE section (just good once). MUCH LATER: A bit to the N on the W side of the river, near the rock you can find Sylak's exuberant trash (woopee!). ANNWN (E) You won't be coming here for a looong time. Q: Deliver the message to hermit 2. OUTSIDE: There's a hut with herbs here, but you'd have to steal them, which is probably not a good idea. There's a boulder to the NE that can not be climbed. Come back with a captured soul from the Vale of the Sould. There are 2 necklaces (Jade and magical Silver) up there. Healing herbs can be found at the tree N of Annwn. The first hermit can be found in the hut S of Annwn. There's a bunch of Celt warriors who'll party with you. BURIAL GLEN (I) This is an optional quest that you may want to save till after you've crossed the bridge. Q: Honor the Celt warrior. OUTSIDE: The bridge is guarded by a bunch of inbred Fomorians. Teach them a lesson, if you're strong enough (300c, fine small metal shield). There's a misletoe patch on the N of the river. There's a stone circle here with miscellaneous items. Return with a piece of horn (from area B) to get a ring of accuracy. There's a scroll in the garbage piles to the NW. INSIDE: A decent level with good rewards. Pray at the eastern altar, Celts receive healing and, after further exploring, a nether arts spell, Miraculous Revival (come back after you've done more quests). Talk to the lost soul in the SW building, and he'll tell you about the vengeance blade (which does extra damage against Romans). The sword is located in the W statue in the N building. In the courtyard you can get the main quest in this area. In the NW building are 3 tombs with buttons. W-opens up a door in the NE, C-summons 4 shades, E- summons lava, which is bad. Enter the portal in the northern building, kill the 2 wights, and go through the portal. In the next one, place "crate crate barrel" from N to S, then go through the portal. This takes you to the "cross" room. Go south through the barrier, and look at the treasures (cursed ring of grief, paper, poison, energetic herb, silver chalice). Kill the monsters that appear, this causes an earthquake. Go look at the tomb again, and you'll burn the body (5xp, onyx necklace on pillar). Then you can leave. SPIDER AREA (J) This is a rather bizarre area, with the GIFTSs that occur in all of spiderweb's games. Q: Talk with the spider queen. Q: Kill the nasty spider. Q: Get the insect-attracting amber. OUTSIDE: You'll find Grizzle the sprite on the N side of the river. SE of the spider area, you'll find a spider. Wait to talk with it. INSIDE: If you enter from the west, you can speak with the intelligent friendly spiders right away. Talk with the chief to get an interesting quest. There's not too much here. There are some herbs hidden to the SE, and there's a cursed ring to the NW. There are some dead bodies SW, who have some minor items. Once you've talked with the queen spider, come back for (5xp, necklace). They then give you a quest to go kill a nasty spider to the north. Do so, and you'll get 5xp, and a blessed leather helmet. They then give you an amber quest. If you complete this, you get Sylak's enlightening amber. SHADOW VALLEY FORT (P) This is the head of operations for the Romans. You get here via a second tunnel, which opens once you've completed Castle Aethdoc. OUTSIDE: Celts can't go very far South. They can get into a fight with a bunch of roman soldiers, and get some nice items out of it (blessed sword). LATER: If you have some special boots, give them to Julius for a fine small wooden buckler. TUNNEL (N) Once you've complete Castle Aethdoc, you can get to the southern section. OUTSIDE: There's a goblin village nearby. Don't hurt them, and you can claim a nice magic item later, then you can kill them (100 coins, 50 food, blessed metal helmet). If you're lucky enough, you can find a skill ring on the bony plain. HAGFEN (M) You can only access the Eastern half of this sector for now. OUTSIDE: There's a ring of trees here that'll be important later. There's a special ball on the coast, pick it up, there's a minor quest for it later. There's a healer, Becca in this area. There are a bunch of lizards on the hill there. Killing them gets you some food and a fine large metal shield. LATER: When you get to the other side, go to the center peninsula, and a selkie child will want the ball. Give it to him. THREE CRONES (H) This map can only be partially explored for now. OUTSIDE: There are some energetic herbs past the swampy area on the peninsula near to the hut (just once). LATER: To the N, find a sprite near the columnar rock, pay him, and from the mushrooms, go straight N. You'll find a Shaynee who'll sell you recipes. Near the dead tree you'll be attacked by sprites. Once you've done the ball quest in the Hagfen area, go to the tree and rock to the south, and you'll get a druid's bracelet. After you've done more stuff, you can attack some carytids guarding their base. INSIDE: Going to see the 3 crones is a major point in the game for the Celts. They don't much care for you, and send you to their pits. PITS: All of your equipment is confiscated, and you're pretty much on your own. There are a few secrets with crappy equipment here, pick it up just to have something. In the rat room, there's a secret leading to a bracelet and necklace (non-magical). As the Celts, you can't get passed the green rune. In the rat ruins room, there's a secret to the NW leading to fine lockpicks, and a wand of venom. When you get to the spider ruins, there's a way to climb down to the west. This takes you to 4 chests that hold your stuff! Reequip it! There's a secret room to the NW that has a magic lockpick in it. Smash the wheel and leave. Once you get out, there's a good bit of stuff out here to do. Rob each of the witch's rooms, you get a lot of nice stuff for this, and hey, they're evil anyway. A bit west, there's a room with a wight that is guarding a few magic lockpicks in a box. In the NNE witch room there is a secret passage leading to an altar and 3 wights. The altar teaches heartshock, an excellent spell. There's a bunch of cursed items in the rewards chamber. There are also some nice items hidden a bit to the NW of the center crone room. There's a wolf to the west that isn't really a wolf. Go grab the key found in the NNW tile room (stay on the * tiles to avoid being transported to fight a basilisk). Free the wolf to release Galitan, who will repay you later. There's a blocked area to the east, use break barrier on it to fight a wind warrior. Now that you've completed the crone's quest, you can go to the Ruined Hall. RUINED HALL (D) Q: Recover the scroll, if possible. Once you've freed the crone's prisoners, come back, and circle this building. There are herbs to the NW, and a batch of hidden scrolls to the NE. Enter the building proper. This gets you to Chapter 2. Go north, and things'll go badly. Time to search the castle. W is a box with lockpicks and a potion. Explore everything, there are secret doors everywhere (use far sight), and eventually you'll want to go down the stairs to the east. BASEMENT: Straightforward enough, kill the spiders, pass the ghosts. At the 3 pools, don't drink from the W one. The E one gives you a piercing crystal, use it on the nearby barrier to access a box which has some goodies, including a druid's bracelet. The altar will teach you total healing. In the room with the 2 toned tiles, step on the lower hexagon, and you'll fight 2 shades. They are carrying scrolls. You can get the energy and strength draught recipes in the NW section. Make it to center north and you'll fight the guilty sprite. On your way out you're attacked by aranea. Head up and talk with the faeries. They'll give you a scroll and send you back to Nethergate. Return to Nethergate with the scroll, and a big celebration will take place. A good old pagan ritual! You'll get cursed (10xp). Talk with Cerridwen, and off to the faerie bazaar! Now you can cross the bridge near the Ruined Hall without trouble. FAERIE BAZAAR (7) Q: Get uncursed. Q: Obtain the Ruby from Galag-Trav. Q: Destroy 10 urns in the Vale of the Sould. Q: Steal some spider eggs. Q: Get a black fang. Talk with Drotha. She'll give you info on how to fix your curse. Time to visit Reptrakos (6)! Moonfire gives you a mission to kill the Ruby-headed Fomorian in Galag-trav. For this, you get the rod of safe descent, a vital and powerful wand. Skrog will give you key IV for 250 coins after you ask him about "keys." Solberg will let you use the blessing pool for 2000 coins. The seeker will sell you spells 1-6 of the beast, craft, and spirit circles. The bazaar master will give you a Vale of the Sould quest: Destroy 10 urns in the Vale of the Sould. Doing so nets you 5xp and a spidersilk cloak. Don't do this until after you've invaded Shadow Valley Fort. He then gives you another quest: steal eggs from the Spider Queen. Doing so gets you 5xp and a dragonskin cloak. This leads to his final quest, to kill a wolf to get its black fang. These wolves can be found at area 9. For this you get 5xp and Mighty Beast. You can also rob him if you have enough tool use (15 total- from Zeviz)- he has a jade necklace. You can go down at any of the staircases. Underneath the Faerie Bazaar: From Moonfire: Go east once you enter, then kill the undead. One coffin has 50 coins, fine chain mail. From Truly Fine Items: Cross the runes (a luck total of 7 is required to cross them- Zeviz), and grab the shield and blessed studded armor. From Colotha: Cross the runes, and you can grab the useless dragon's blood. From the library: Go SE, and jump off the cliff. Then go NW and use Sever Seal to bring down the protection on the urn, and get the spell inside, Wind Warriors. Then go south, and search the area. You'll come up in the stables. OUTSIDE: A Fomorian attacks you to the south. Kill him for a small metal shield and 80 coins. Conn wants some money, go ahead and give him some. There are several shops nearby here. There's a pool which will heal all your characters to 70HP. There's a friendly brigand settlement nearby too. REPTRAKOS' LAIR (6) Q: Recover Reptrakos' tablet. When you enter, Reptrakos won't seem so happy. Search around, and get Gobo to join you. He can't fight well, but he's not too bad. He's also the only way to get to Reptrakos, so you have to let him join. He'll have you kill lizards and goblins, and will tell you about a secret door. Check the north wall, and look at the wheel. Then go west, and north, through the gate. If you have enough dexterity, you can get sylak's bowl! Also grab the puzzle cube (of unknown use), and the metal bar. Go back, and continue on, killing the charming goblins. Go and speak with Reptrakos. He has a mission for you, to recover a tablet. Go around back to get a scale. Go back to the lizard area, and Gobo will open a passage for you. Kill the basilisk, then check the wall for the tablet. Return it for the mighty beast and call spirit spells. Go back to the faerie bazaar (gobo leaves- shucks!) and give Drotha the scale. This gets you uncursed (phew!). OUTSIDE: Starcap will sell you stuff. You can also get Julius's boots here. A batch of witches will attack you in the central hut. Kill them for some spiritual herbs. A bunch of basilisks will attack you a bit to the west, kill them for 200 coins and an onyx necklace. VANARIUM (A) Q: Find Derek. Q: Kill the shadow wolf. Get someone to join you. They all make excellent additions. See the end of this FAQ for the character's skill levels. Silius doesn't show you very good stuff unless you're the romans. Titus will sell you lots of recipes and heal you. Drusilla will buy items from you. You can steal from the shrine, if you want. I haven't seen any ill effects. Maneuver in the trees to get a magic lockpick. Midori will sell spells to you. Velanna will give you a quest to find out what happened to Derek, her lover. Finding his body (2) gives you 5xp, and a free room. Take Sylak's Horn from Manius, if possible. OUTSIDE: Adams lives to the SE. Sit with him, he tells you of the shadow wolf. Kill it (B) for a freedom ring. 10 woodscraft skill is needed (from Zeviz). Help out the faerie noble east of Vanarium for 250 coins. STONE CIRCLE (B) Enter here. The Celts can obtain a few important spells: Break barrier and sever seal. Getting them here will save you a lot of gold. Return later for DOOM, the best spell of the spirit circle. OUTSIDE: There's an animal horn (for Section I) here, to the east of the river. Climb up the dry wastes and kill the Fomorians to claim Sylak's skull. This skull will tell the locations of all the nether arts spells, and will help you once or twice more beyond that. Otherwise, he's just plain annoying. AERIE (2) Q: Talk with the Celt shades on behalf of the Raven OUTSIDE: Make a copy of the runes on the pillar outside. You'll need some paper and a pen. Find the skeleton, this ends up being Derek. Search the valley wall for a gryphon, free it, you'll be glad for it later. INSIDE: An interesting level. Go east, then up to get to a place with 4 lizards. Kill them and search the west wall for a body with equipment. You'll find a block puzzle: E xx BAx CD xx First move crate A by bumping into it (then wait). Move blocks B and C south, then D east 2 spaces. Then move E up and out. I x H x G x F E Then move blocks F and G west, H east, and I north. Then place a block on the pad (it's not too hard). Go a bit north, and see the gryphons. To the NE there's a spot with some chests which can't be opened till you have a few more keys. One of them holds a ruby necklace, the other a sapphire necklace. There's a secret passage to the NE that leads to an upper level. Search for secret doors, and you'll find 2 boxes that contain potions, lockpicks, and a few other things. Heading to the NW, you'll be able to go further if you've freed the gryphon outside, and can acquire a feather from the gryphon in the NW corner. Look through their nests to acquire an emerald. Go east, through the gryphons, then head around again. You get attacked by a bunch of Fomorians. Continue around, and you will be attacked by lava lizards. Next is the test of knowledge. You have to have enough woodcraft, faerie lore, rune reading, and tool use to continue. Go talk with the Raven. He wants you to go to the stone circle. Do so and return for your reward, a blessed skill ring and 10xp. On the way out, you may want to jump off the cliffs to get to the second one, and search the east wall for Sylak's scalpel, which aids your first aid skill. MAZE OF THORNS (F) Q: Retrieve the runes. Q: Retrieve the insect-attracting amber. Entering this area is a challenge. Many passages close up on you. A lot of dead druids are here, pillage their bodies for good equipment. There are also lots of homicidal aranea here. You objective is to get to the center, and talk with the spider queen. She'll tell you what to do about the GIFTSs, and will give you an amber quest (return with it for 10xp, and boots of the leagues). You can steal some of her eggs for a later quest by going around the north. To the west is a web that asks you a question (the answer is below in the hints section). For this you get Call Hunt. OUTSIDE: To the north on the river is Kaja, who wants to see some runes. They can be found at (2). Return for some tool use knowledge. She also sells the power elixir and balm of life recipes. In the forest there is a battle with some shades (which gives you 100 coins and a scroll), and a healing herb patch. Threaten the druids and they'll let you take some. DRUID SHRINE (8) Q: Kill the big Fomorian. Q: Retrieve Orim's soul. Q: Kill the Wolf of the Fen. Go to the outer shrine. You'll get 2 skill points, and can talk with Aidan. He'll give you a quest to go grab Orim's soul from the Vale of the Sould. You'll have to ask for the golden pelt, eventually. Owen asks you to slay the wolf of the fen nearby. Finishing this quest gets you a free dip in the blessing pool. In the orchard, you can find a lot of misletoe. You can also see a sprite or two in the water. UNDER THE SHRINE: Go south first. Look at the scrolls, you'll find the restoring elixir recipe. Further, after the pit, search for secret passages east. You'll find Mugain, and search the shelves for the capture soul and simulacrum spells. Mugain will teach you tool use for 250 coins. Also, in the same room as Mugain, is a southerly secret passage leading to the nether arts spell create elixir. Once you have permission to obtain the golden pelt, go west from the beginning. In the urn room, one of the pots has a druid's bracelet in it. Further west is the blessing pool. The golden pelt is in the eastern sarcophagus. Claim it, and fight the undead. Give it to Samael, then return for your reward, 10xp, heartshock, and a use of the blessing pool. OUTSIDE: Talk with the sprites. They want you to kill a Fomorian who lives to the north. Do so for 5xp, and their gratitude. On the peninsula is the only seller of papyrus sheets. Buy a lot once you get Sylak's pen- you'll get a lot of scrolls, many of which are good for selling. Near the shrine is a swampy area. Get up on the hill, and blow a horn, this'll summon the wolf. Check near the shrine for a spiritual herb patch. VALE OF THE SOULD (3) Q: Get the Ruby Stones. Samael will rent out souls to you. If you have cash, you may want to get one. They occasionally will help you (I've found 2 occurrences so far). He will also free Orim for you if you can retrieve the Golden Pelt for him. He also wants some stones (found in the Roman Goblin caves), and will reward you handsomely for them (Hero of Old, Beast Call, Raise Dead spells). His hideout is also the object of a quest from the Faerie Bazaar head merchant. Finally, you can find a nether arts spell here. Faerie Bazaar Quest: Head to the east. You'll have to fight a bunch of rats. Whenever you see a pot, approach it and smash it (except for a few final exceptions). You'll be warned once by Samael, and if you continue, he'll stop selling to you. Be sure to have done everything you've wanted to first before proceeding. Then ignore his warnings. Pull the 2 hidden wheels, then go and smash the 2 jars, and continue east. You'll be presented with a series of riddles throughout this dungeon. The riddle answers are near the end of this FAQ. You'll enter a library, where you can read the deals people made in exchange for their souls. Search for 3 secrets, 2 of which lead to jars, and the other that leads to some scrolls. You'll run into some fire lizards. You'll come to a staircase as you go west, search the south wall for a secret passage. Continue west, and you'll eventually be sent to a spider maze. Check the south wall for a secret passage out. Pull a wheel a bit south and keep crushing the urns you come across. Eventually, you'll run into a bunch of goblins. Kill them, then go south. You'll be asked the final riddle. Enter, and don't try breaking any of these urns. You'll come upon Samael. Kill him, this is an age of vengeance. Plunder his treasure chest for a few goodies, then head back to the beginning. Kill the mannequin, then go through the portal. Now you can get Clouds of the Night. OUTSIDE: The S cave has lizards in it. North of this one is a ring cave. North from there is a basilisk cave. Killing them gets you a lucky bracelet, and a sylak's bolt of cloth. Finally, N of this one is the Fomorian the sprites want you to kill. On the E side of the river, you can get the stone guardian spell from the S cave, to the E is a cave with a dead body (100 coins, crystal necklace). N is an empty cave, W is a lizard family cave. SELKIE HOME (G) Q: Get the selkie pelts. This is a sad area. Maneuver to talk with Sleek. He'll give you a quest to retrieve the selkie pelts from Hagfen. Do so for 10xp, and they'll tear down a wall, allowing you to get key IIIII and a blessed sling. Go to the North, and you can access a bunch of potions and some coins. To the NE is the laboratory of Gulharus. The boxes contain herbs, except for the box across the lava. This one has a silver bracelet and a rare wand of disruption. You may be here to kill Sleek- doing so makes all of the selkies hostile towards you, and would probably go against the faerie-celt bond of trust. OUTSIDE: There's the cheapest source of food here, in a hut on the east side of the lake. Free the selkie man to the SW. There's a stone circle that constantly summons up lost souls and big Fomorians. Use it to gain experience, if you want. HOLLOW HILLS (L) Q: Get a gryphon feather. Q: Get the ruby stones. Flaxen will sell you nice blessed equipment. Morden identifies, Foglio sells potions and scrolls, and buys your stuff, and Thyme sells miscellaneous goodies. Talk with Galitan (if you freed him) and he'll teach you soul lance and stone guardian. The Rose lady will give you a quest, if you desire to take it. Check her room for some nice magic jewelry and other valuables. Talk with Toivo for information, and for the chance to get into the closed building. Talk to Rippel (who sells miscellaneous items), and ask about Weevil. Talk to Sylak (not THAT Sylak), and enter the room through the east. Talk to Genevieve to get the gryphon feather quest. You'll get one in the Aerie. Return with one for 10xp, and key VI. At the closed magical pets store, go and kill the ghost. You get a lucky bracelet for this. In the SW corner of the village in the inn, there are some gambling faerie guards- use Sylak's dice there for 100 coins (from Sarachim). OUTSIDE: To get here, you've got to cross the river. You'll have to wade through a lot of goblins to get there, though. There's a lake with an island on it. Get to the island by searching to the west for a path. There's also a gryphon nest to the SW, kill them if you want. A bit north of the nest is an energetic herb patch. You can't get to it unless you walk through all of the paths to the NE. HAGFEN (M) Q: Kill Sleek. This place is a swamp. You may find a lot of herbs, if you do some wandering. To the south is a piece of amber the spiders keep yearning for. To the east are 3 basilisks, this is a good place to capture their souls. Kill them and search the body for Key IV. Enter the building and you can deal with the hags. They want you to kill Sleek, leader of the selkies. Doing so will get you a crystal key that opens a door in their basement to a scroll that gives you +4 to either the beast or craft circle. It's not too worthwhile for the Celts. This quest still can be taken and performed after doing the selkie quest, to no adverse affect (Zeviz). It would go against role playing though. DOWNSTAIRS: Jump off the cliff. There's the way out to the east, though you have to fight some Fomorians. The hags are packrats, and you can do a good deed and pillage them. A western box yields to one of your numbered keys, and gives an amber charm and a silver necklace. To the NW are a bunch of lava lizards, and in the pockmarked area you can use a captured soul from the Vale of the Sould to grab a worthless monkey bracelet and a warrior's bracelet. To the SW is the Main treasure storage area. There's a chest that requires key V here. It has Sylak's Mortar and Pestle. There's a gate to the SW that blocks an important area. You can open it by going to the East and hitting the tiles like so: 2 1 3 4 then opening the door and going through the portal. You'll find the skins, some gold and some scrolls. You can get a copper necklace in a chest to the South, provided you have key 6. If Sylak's skull talks to you here, go and grab an intelligence bracelet from the red horse statue near the beginning. SPIRE (C) You can't get passed the thorns until the end of the game. OUTSIDE: Poz will sell you miscellaneous items. You'll find a ring belonging to a sprite to the NW, I gave it back to her. CASTLE AETHDOC (K) Q: Kill Kharto. You'll get here later, but there's something really useful here. OUTSIDE: Near the center of this area are a bunch of goblins. Talk with them to get started on a most worthwhile Sylak item quest: kill Kharto. Go to (N) then to (M), circle of trees, and back to here. For this you get Sylak's pen. Also, there is a strange area that will strengthen you (+2 to all 4 primary stats), if and only if you've done righteous deeds (donated money to beggars, given sprites their ring, show mercy towards slaves, help free caught animals, etc.). There's not too much else to do, so go on to Goagh-Nar. GOAGH-NAR (1) Wait till you have all 6 keys to come here, that's my suggestion. When you're ready, enter, and head west. UNDER GOAGH-NAR: Talk to Roava. These are the friendly Fomorians. He tells you to go speak with Gagg. There's a passage to the north that holds a trapped chest, in it are some small goodies. Further north is another trapped chest, in it are some mauling gauntlets, regular chain mail, and a golden goblet. Go to the west and take some herbs from their garden. Check a bit to the south for a secret passage leading to Fomor zombies that challenge you. Kill them, and take their stuff (You get a fury helm!). Talk to Gagg, and you'll get started on the trial. Just don't try to take anything. You need some faerie lore in order to survive one of the tests. If you've been plunking points into it every now and then you should be fine. Go back, talk to Gagg then Roava. UNDER GOAGH-NAR 2: It's probably best to take Bendbones out. Go unlock the door, and kill him. Then pillage his chest. Don't go up the stairs yet, instead go to the east and search for a secret passage N. Kill the sprites, then go to the room. Search for secret passages, light the fire, kill the sprites, and repeat twice. Then go up the stairs, and claim Fomorslayer. It does extra damage against Fomorians. Go up the stairs to get to: GOAGH-NAR: You end up in a storage room. There's a scroll in the room to the South. Go south to the arena, and check one of the cells for some needed info. Go west, and open the two boxes, you should be able to do so if you have all of the keys. They have a blessed spear and blessed axe. There is also a box that has a dexterity bracelet near the center. You'll want to make your way around to the queen's room, either by stealth or by might. There are a lot of goodies nearby here: a wand of doom, and an energy elixir. UNDER GOAGH-NAR 2: There are a lot of Fomorians here. Take a look around, you'll find some herbs, and a temple. Go check the skulls in the temple for beast ceremony (as if you don't have it already). Go up and out. UNDER GOAGH-NAR: Looks like the Romans stole the skull. Shoot. Talk to Juniper, and leave. GOAGH-NAR: Leave. The sprites give you the skull. OUTSIDE: There's an energetic patch of herbs to the East. You can beat up the Fomorians on top of the hill, if you desire. There's a lot. Kill them, then search the totems for a blessed metal helmet. There's also the last hermit here. Talk with him for 100 coins. Return to Nethergate with the skull, and you'll get 10xp. Your next stop is Castle Aethdoc. Once you enter, go south, down the stairs. SOUTH CASTLE: Go east. Talk to Indigo. This is a BIG area. Agate, to the East, will teach you Sever Seal for cheap. In the jail to the SE is a body that has a blessed metal helmet. To the SSE is a library, you can read one of the books if you have enough keys to get Doom, Control life, and Soul lance. There's an altar to the SSW that'll heal you. To the SW is a crypt. Go to the NE one, go through a secret passage, and press the button to the N. 3 spectral warriors will fight you. Kill them, and search the tombs for a wand of disruption, fine metal large shield, and a dragonskin cloak. There's a room to the WSW that's locked, open it and check the barrel for a golden bracelet and a scroll. In the inner circle, there's a valuable treasure room to the SE. You'll find mauling gloves, gems, and a blessed resistance ring. Making it to the center is unnecessary, though you may want to talk with Pelanth, though first you'll need to find a pass from Indigo in the NW. She'll sell you Break Barrier. In the desk is a golden goblet, a nice treasure to sell. Eventually head up the SE stairs. INTERMISSION: Dispel the barriers. The Altar is the main attraction here. Donate money several times (~8), and you'll get lots of xp, health, and spell points, and finally sylak's pants of power (from Sarachim). NORTH CASTLE: You're in a storage room. You can get raise dead and total healing from the room to the SE. There are 3 ways to kill Relatur. The first, and hardest, is to confront him directly. Probably a bad idea. The second is to wait in his room and gut him from there. This works well enough, and is my favorite (since I like to kill bad guys). You'll need to sever a seal to do this. The third is to acquire poison and kill him. Talk with the mage to the SE, and he'll tell you about some poison he made. Go to his room a bit north, and say "gryphon." Grab the poison, and dump it in the wine. Then make for the exit. If you try #2, you can take all of his stuff (blessed ring of protection, blessed sword). You can also go around and kill everyone else, including the nobles in the center room, who also have very nice equipment. Once done, leave, and talk with Indigo. The eye is in Shadow valley fort! Head back to Nethergate. Return to Nethergate once you've completed Castle Aethdoc, and you'll get information on a tunnel to Shadowvale fort. TUNNEL (N) ABANDONED MINES: Once you've completed Castle Aethdoc, you can get here. The locked room to the east has a chest with metal bars and magic lockpicks. There's a room with 2 crates full of metal bars in the center-west. In the NW corner there's a room with 2 emeralds. Second floor: There's a ring in a locked room near the east center. Third floor, southern stairs: There's a huge jump in the South-SW part of the map. You need the rod of Safe descent to make it without dying. This is the main reason we came here. Jump down the cliff after using the rod, and press the button in one of the rooms with a ghoul. Doing so summons 2 spirits, kill them, then plunder the stones from the central, revealed cabinet. Exit through the portal. To the SE there's a secret way up to pillage some dead bodies. Third floor, northern stairs: There are some crypts nearby which you can pillage. Destroy the ruby you find in a secret passage. You may not see any benefits to doing this, but it doesn't hurt. The drake to the NW wants you to attack, do so (by forcing an attack). Take his stuff. SHADOW VALLEY FORT (P) This is the head of operations for the Romans. You get here via a second tunnel, which opens once you completed Castle Aethdoc. The tunnel doesn't have too much in the way of secrets, but you will get into a nasty fight with a bunch of undead warriors. Once defeated, you can enter the fort proper. You're only allowed to explore the NE quad of the maps, if you try to go further out, you will be instantly killed (see the bug section for a problem associated with this). If you head towards the center of the map, you get into a big fight with a bunch of Romans. Head into the headquarters north of this fight, and you'll find a second pair of seven league boots (from Zeviz)! There is also a pair of gauntlets of might in the chest nearby, along with a potion and a few other items. The eye is located in a building to the east, once you grab it, leave and return to Nethergate. Return with the Eye of Cathdoc and you'll get 10xp, and a Druid's bracelet and Onyx necklace in a chest to the east. You'll then get info on your next stop, Annwn. ANNWN (E) Q: Kill a drake in the first area. Q: Save a girl in the Village Q: Recover a key from the battleground. Q: Perform the hunt for Bel. VALLEY OF THE DEAD This is one of your final stops. Once you've obtained the Eye of Cathrac, you can enter here. Once in, your rations rot away. I hope you have the create food spell! Cast it 10 times, and that'll last you for a while, especially if you have Sylak's bowl. Search this first area thoroughly before going through any portals. There's a dead body in here with 12 food on it a bit east of center. To the east a statue asks you a question which you must answer in order to get up to the next level. To the west is a wolf den, make it to the center to get a lot of nice items (including a blessed metal helmet). There's a portal to the west on the second floor that you'll want to take. This leads to a drake, wait and then kill it. It has some good stuff. Then take the portal in the center. HALLS OF THE DEAD. Entering the portal to the north takes you to the battlefield. Make your way east, and speak with Rhys, the spectral warrior. He won't let you pass until you've done 2 of his 3 quests. One is to recover a key, two is save a girl, and three is to kill a drake. The portal to the east will send you back to intro area. Check the wall a bit east of Rhys and you'll get into an area with several jail cells (you'll occasionally get hurt while wandering around here). Talk with a wight (Donovan) and he'll ask you to destroy his skull to the NW. Do so for 2 points of hardiness. Another wight (Donelly) teaches you control life if you ask him what he remembers. To the NW is a platform that summons the hunt. It's kind of hard, but you'll have to do at sometime. A bit to the west are the skulls, with a nasty trap guarding them. THE BATTLEFIELD. This is a tough area. As you walk, you'll get attacked. You can hug the walls to avoid most encounters, although at this point you could be strong enough to want to fight merely to get the exp. The portal to the NW leads back to the halls, and the portal to the NE leads to the village. In the SE, you find the key thief. Once slain, the key will open a chest in the NE section of the halls for a knowledge brew and a blessed ring of protection. The S portal leads to the intro area. VILLAGE. A unique area. There's some humor in here, with the cows and such. You start off in the SW quad. There are runes separating the various quads, these can be brought down with the sever seal spell. The portal to the west goes to the halls. The girl is located here. Find her to the north and take her to the exit. There's not too much else. Once you do 2 of Rhys's quests, you can enter (and Rhys is tortured). You then speak with Bel, who wants you to do the hunt. After doing the hunt, you'll find out that the Romans beat you to it again. Go off to the end, and kill the Romans outside waiting and obtain the crown. Return the crown for an Onyx Necklace and a blessed small shield. Now off to Spire! Once you've recovered all of the artifacts, walk on the road to enter Spire. You'll be attacked by a crone and some nether beasts. By this time, they shouldn't be much of a problem. SPIRE (C) This is the last place you go to in the game. You can't get here for a long time. Once you have all 3 artifacts, head on out to Spire. You may want to take some wine with you, those Faeries know how to party! In here you'll also be introduced to the Crystal wands, which are very powerful missile weapons. Be sure to equip pretty much everyone with one at some point. Most of the stuff here you should already have, although you can really get a nice bit of cash if you grab the valuable stuff and leave. To the SE there's a room that's locked with one of the Sylak keys- unlock it and you can grab a few items. There are a few other places of interest, but I'll let you find them. Go up to the second floor and head east. Talk with Sylak and Shra. Then go up to floor 3, and look around. The rooms to the NE and NW both contain a whole bunch of potions. Then go up to the platform, and place the items. The eye will give you a hard time, but the skull just wants to get drunk. The crown doesn't care. Once you do, Sylak comes up, and starts to open the gate. Then the Romans attack. Shra tells you to go down and kill Vibius. Go down one floor and head east. Find the room that looks like a shooting range and get some wands to the north, and some skill to the south. Go down to the bottom floor, and start chasing Vibius. Eventually you'll kill him on the second floor, then you have to go back up to the third floor and watch the ending sequence! -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- ROMANS: SHADOW VALLEY FORT (P) Q: Recover the satchel. Welcome to the Romans. The Romans are stronger, faster, and less magically inclined than the celts. Playing as the Romans requires a change in strategy. You'll find the game to be pretty easy at the beginning, but tougher near the middle, as you're missing the majority of spells. You wake up in your room, confused and disoriented. There's a storage room east, and a lockpick south. A bit east, there's a building with some locked doors and trapped chests- open them to get a blessed small shield, beast elixir, and to realize you're expendable. Eventually head west to talk with Vibius and to get an idea of what you'll need to do. You can't get to the area a bit north for a while. Also talk with Quintus and get a free healing draught. Talk to Appius to join the burial club (the benefits of which are noticeable when your characters all keel over). Circle the fort, and you'll find a fine axe. OUTSIDE: Look in the heavily forested area to find a sword. Head west to get to the Abandoned Mine. LATER: If you have some special boots, give them to Julius for a fine small wooden buckler. ABANDONED MINE (N) OUTSIDE: You encounter the witches for the first time near here. They are friendly, though. INSIDE: Search the containers near the beginning- you'll find some nice equipment. Continue looking, and you'll have to fight some rats and goblins. Nothing too tough, especially for your Roman soldiers. Several doors are locked, but you should be able to find some keys a bit later on. *********************HINT********************************************* THE KEYS: There are 6 Sylak keys found throughout the game. The first 3 come pretty readily, but the last 3 are a chore to obtain. Nonetheless, you may want to obtain them all prior to doing the later quests. Once you find one, many doors and chests will open up to you, enabling you to loot as you please. You can get a lot of good stuff this way, including valuable jewelry and potions. ********************************************************************** There's a secret path near the center with a dead body and some equipment, and a clue about what's going on. Eventually, go down the northern staircases. FLOOR 2.Around the loop you'll fight some goblins, and will also find a chest with some good equipment in it. As you continue, you'll run into a goblin chief and his shaman guards. This battle can be tough, be sure to use magic as much as possible. The goblin chief has good equipment, including a fine sword. If you go to the jail to the east, you can find a secret room with some valuable metal bars. Head NE to find a box with several herbs and a druid's robe, which will be useful later. Go down one level on this floor (not two!), destroy the goblin altar (10xp), search the altar room for secret doors, including one that leads to a wand of flame, and circle to the SW- you'll find key I. You can get some free food at the rat butchering area (yummy!). Head to the SW corner and kill the goblins. You'll find a door with some helmets. Now head to the bottom level of this floor. Search the rat areas for a scroll and key II (after fighting plague rats). Go down the eastern stairs to floor 3. FLOOR 3. Right off you'll see some crates with a lot of food. Stock up. Head to your NE and you'll see some tombs. Wights pour out of them- kill them but beware their draining touch. Search the tombs for a gold ring, a scroll and 25 coins. While you're on this side, destroy the ruby in the hidden room. There's also a drake here that wants to die fighting, hold on giving him his wish for now, as you're too weak. Now that you have all of the keys, open up the rooms that were previously locked. You'll find plenty of good equipment, including a few magic items. Return the satchel to Vibius for 10xp. Be sure to talk with Quintus to get a hero of old scroll. You'll be sent off to the ruined hall. You'll probably want to do this next, as it's a good idea to go and get a fifth person ASAP. TUNNEL (N) OUTSIDE: There's a goblin village nearby. Don't hurt them, and you can claim a nice magic item later, then you can kill them (100 coins, 50 food, blessed metal helmet). If you're lucky enough, you can find a skill ring on the bony plain. HAGFEN (M) You can only access the eastern half of this sector for now. OUTSIDE: There's a ring of trees here that'll be important later. There's a special ball on the coast, pick it up, there's a minor quest for it later. There's a healer, Becca in this area. There are a bunch of lizards on the hill there. Killing them gets you some food and a fine large metal shield. LATER: When you get to the other side, Go to the center peninsula, and a selkie will want the ball. Give it to him. This gets you some magic jewelry. You will be attacked if you approach the tower. BURIAL GLEN (I) This is an optional quest that you may want to save till after you've obtained another character. Q: Honor the Celt warrior. OUTSIDE: The bridge is guarded by a bunch of inbred Fomorians. Teach them a lesson, if you're strong enough (300c, fine small metal shield). There's a misletoe patch on the N of the river. There's a stone circle here with miscellaneous items. Return with a piece of horn (from area B) to get a ring of accuracy. There's a scroll in the garbage piles to the NW. INSIDE: A decent level with good rewards. You get attacked by a bunch of undead (4 lost souls- from Zeviz) at the eastern altar. Talk to the lost soul in the SW building, and he'll attack you. In the courtyard you can get the main quest in this area. In the NW building are 3 tombs with buttons. W-opens up a door in the NE, C-summons 4 shades, E- summons lava which is bad. You can rob the urns for a ring of accuracy, and get a torc from one tomb. Enter the portal in the northern building, kill the 2 wights, and go through the portal. In the next one, place "crate crate barrel" from N to S, then go through the portal. This takes you to the "cross" room. Go south through the barrier, and look at the treasures (cursed ring of grief, paper, poison, energetic herb, silver chalice). Kill the monsters that appear, this causes an earthquake. Go look at the tomb again, and you'll burn the body (5xp, onyx necklace on pillar). Then you can leave. RUINED HALL (D) OUTSIDE: Pearlblossom- no clue on this one, her earrings don't seem to be retrievable. You can't cross the west bridge until after you've done everything in the Ruined Hall. At the Shepherd's place, killing the sheep summons a Fomorian and 2 worgs. There's a patch of spiritual herbs hidden in the NE section (just good once). LATER: A bit to the N on the W side of the river, near the rock you can find Sylak's exuberant trash (woopee!). INSIDE: Wander around and you'll find some nice equipment. Circle the building, and pillage all of the herbs/scrolls. There's a small secret area that's accessible from the outside in the NE. In it are several scrolls. Enter and you go into Chapter 2. Go and speak with Dolojan (who doesn't much like you) to get this quest started. Search the rest of this area for several nice bits of equipment. DOWNSTAIRS: You will need to obtain 3 opening stones. One is found in the NE in a hidden room, another is in the east pool, and the third one is SW on a body (cross the lava), and the fourth is found by jumping down from a cliff in the west. You can cross the bridge without fear. You don't want to drink from west pool, and want to save the center pool for later (unless you really need it). You can't get the altar's spell, no matter how high your rune reading is (maybe you need some faerie lore?). Step on the box to fight some wights and check NW for 2 potion recipes. Then use the stones to open the door and grab the scroll. You then will have to fight a bunch of goblins to get out, and eventually, Dolojan, the faerie warrior. She might be somewhat tough, but definitely can be killed. Return the scrolls to Vibius for 10xp, and go to bed. You'll have creepy dreams. Talk with Vibius again and get Quintus to give you a ring of resistance, a decent item. Your next stop should probably be Vanarium. You will want to pick up another character. VANARIUM (A) Q: Obtain the Dragon's blood. Q: Find Derek. Q: Kill the shadow wolf. You'll want to pick up a character, most likely Rhian. Marcus has too many points devoted to endurance, whereas Rhian has some much- needed druidic skill. See the end of this FAQ for the character's skill levels. This is one of the easier choices you can make. People will react to you a bit better here in Vanarium, but very poorly in the Faerie Bazaar. Silius will sell you some good items, including piercing crystals and recall rubies. You may want to purchase some crystals here, since there isn't any place really good to acquire the break barrier spell for a while, plus you probably don't have enough craft skill to make good use of it. Titus will sell you lots of recipes and heal you. Drusilla will buy items from you. You can steal from the shrine, if you want. I haven't seen any ill effects. Maneuver in the trees to get a magic lockpick. Midori will sell spells to you. Manius Voltinus will give you a quest to find the Dragon's blood. Doing so gets you Sylak's horn. You can rob his house pretty easily for some gold jewelry. Talk with the innkeeper Velanna to get the Find Derek quest. Finding his body (2) gives you 5xp, and a free room. OUTSIDE: Adams lives to the SE. Sit with him, he tells you of the shadow wolf. 10 woodscraft skill is needed (from Zeviz). Kill it (B) for a freedom ring. Help out the faerie noble east of Vanarium for no reward whatsoever. BLACKFANG WOODS (9) This is the only outdoor section without any indoor dungeon. Q: Retrieve the lady's two skulls. OUTSIDE: Stay away from the forest, at least until you have good reason to explore them. Go up to the rock on the S side of the river to get a minor quest. Returning the skulls nets you a wand of the coils. The skulls are found near Galag-Trav. In order to cross the bridge, you will have to fight some Celts. Do so, they're not tough. GALAG-TRAV (0) This is a relatively easy level with some decent rewards. OUTSIDE: There is a misletoe patch in trees, and a fine sword in the looped trees. There's a talking fish on river's edge. North of Goagh- Nar is a goblin with a skull, the same is true to the south (you must first have received the quest from area 9). The south goblin will attack you, the north won't. I've not seen any difference between having mercy and not in this case. There's a bunch of cheating goblins here too. In order to have them play fair, bring your own dice. Or, better yet, bring Sylak's dice! When you do this, they attack you. FLOOR 1: You may hear some noise when you enter, but can't find anyone. You'll know what this is about if you play as the Celts. To the northern east there's a room with a secret passage with a fire barrier. Beyond is a trapped chest containing a ring of accuracy, a set of magic lockpicks, and a few other goodies. Shade room S, go through doors to find a battle axe. There are 3 buttons, 1 N, 1 SSE, 1 SSW. Pushing the S buttons followed looping around to the N enables you to pass this level without too much hassle. There's a secret pillar with a button to push to the SW, use this to access the area slightly east, there's a III key on the body there. There's a final button on the pillar near the stairs, use it when you need to leave, after taking the stairs down. There's a box that requires either keys I, II, or III: NW crypt- a wight and a tomb with a fine chain mail (equip it). There's also a pillar with information (be sure to check this). FLOOR 2: Hug the walls, and avoid the pit. There are Fomorians up above who would love to throw a lot of rocks at you. There's a secret room SE, with a ruby hidden in pile of skulls. In the fire lizard room in the central SE is a body with a fine spear, fine leather armor, and some lockpicks. To the NE is a secret area with a barrier blocking the passage, which is passable, but damaging. Open the box (and get poisoned) for a fury helm, which is a great piece of armor, as anyone can wear it (it's non-encumbering). Give it to Rhian. To the N is a passage to get up, and fight all those stone-throwing Fomorians. They're a tough foe, and you may want to wait for a while. The leader is a Fomorian with a ruby imbedded in his skull, the object of a later quest. Go ahead and grab it, if you can. Also while you're here, check the NW room for a bunch of goodies (gold ring, wine, entertaining scrolls, paper, magic lockpicks). Near the altar there's a secret chamber with 4 spiritual herbs nearby. The area to the SW holds much promise for the Romans. You definitely want to have 5 people in order to get the greatest benefit out of this boon. Enter this area, and head for the central tomb. You can pass without problem. Look at the tomb for Faerie Lore +1. Now that you're done there, you'll want to head someplace else, maybe to the Burial Glen. ANNWN (E) You won't be coming here for a looong time. Q: Deliver the message to hermit 2. OUTSIDE: There's a hut with herbs here, but you'd have to steal them, which is probably not a good idea. There's a boulder to the NE that can not be climbed. Come back with a captured soul from the Vale of the Sould. There are 2 necklaces (Jade and magical Silver) up there. Healing herbs can be found at the tree N of Annwn. The first hermit can be found in the hut S of Annwn. There's a bunch of Celt warriors who'll party with you, in a bad sense. They don't have much in the way of good equipment. SPIDER AREA (J) This is a rather bizarre area, with the GIFTSs that occur in all of spiderweb's games. Q: Talk with the spider queen. Q: Kill the nasty spider. Q: Get the insect-attracting amber. OUTSIDE: SE of the spider area, you'll find a spider. Wait to talk with it. INSIDE: If you enter from the west, you can speak with the intelligent friendly spiders right away. Talk with the chief to get an interesting quest. There's not too much here. There are some herbs hidden to the SE, and there's a cursed ring to the NW. There are some dead bodies SW, who have some minor items. Once you've talked with the queen spider, come back for (5xp, necklace). They then give you a quest to go kill a nasty spider to the north. Do so, and you'll get (5xp, blessed leather helmet). They then give you an amber quest. If you complete this, you get Sylak's enlightening amber. THREE CRONES (H) Q: Steal the Goblet. Q: Kill the Rose Lady. Q: Kill the Spider Queen. Q: Kill the Faerie Bazaarmaster. OUTSIDE: There are some energetic herbs past the swampy area on the peninsula near to the hut (just once). The tower has some Roman soldiers in it who are trying to fend off some goblins. Help them. LATER (after doing the Ruined Hall quest): To the N, find a sprite near the columnar rock, pay him, and from the mushrooms, go straight N. You'll find a Shaynee who'll sell you recipes. Near the dead tree you'll get attacked by sprites. Once you've done the ball quest in the Hagfen area, go to the tree and rock to the south, and you'll get a druid's bracelet. INSIDE- The crones are a lot friendlier towards you than they are to the celts, and if you ask them nicely, they will let you use their blessing pool once. Don't steal from them- if you explore, be sure not to investigate any of their cabinets, or else you'll lose 100xp for each container you plunder. Sadly, you can't free Galitan- trying to use the key on him merely gets you shocked. The crones will give you a series of quests, the first of which is to steal the Celtic Shrine Goblet. For completion of the goblet quest, you get a resistance ring, and a use of the blessing pool. You can also do another quest, to kill the Rose lady. Doing so gets you an onyx necklace and another use of their pool. Next they want you to kill the widow queen. Doing so gets you the seven league boots and a use of their pool. Finally they want you to kill the bazaar master. This is definitely where I draw the line. Killing the bazaar master makes the entire town angry with you, and also makes them all disappear if you leave the town and try to reenter. I like the town's blessing pool too much to do that. If you don't care, then your reward is Sylak's pants and another use of their pool. It's up to you. DOWNSTAIRS- Go down the stairs, and you can wander around and find the room- get several spells (the first two of both the beast and craft circles), and some visions of the future. There isn't nearly as much to do here as there was for the Celts. STONE CIRCLE (B) There's not too much to do here for the Romans, until you speak with the Raven. OUTSIDE: There's an animal horn (for Section I) here, to the east of the river. Climb up the dry wastes and kill the Fomorians to claim Sylak's skull. This skull will tell the locations of all the nether arts spells, and will help you once or twice more beyond that. Otherwise, he's just plain annoying. AERIE (2) Q: Talk with the Celt shades on behalf of the Raven OUTSIDE: Make a copy of the runes on the pillar outside. You'll need some paper and a pen. Find the skeleton, this ends up being Derek. Search the valley wall for a gryphon, free it, you'll be glad for it later. INSIDE: An interesting level. Go east, then up to get to a place with 4 lizards. Kill them and search the west wall for a body with equipment. You'll find a block puzzle: E xx BAx CD xx First move crate A by bumping into it (then wait). Move blocks B and C south, then D east 2 spaces. Then move E up and out. I x H x G x F E Then move blocks F and G west, H east, and I north. Then place a block on the pad (it's not too hard). Go a bit north, and see the gryphons. To the NE there's a spot with some chests which can't be opened till you have a few more keys. One of them holds a ruby necklace, the other a sapphire necklace. There's a secret passage to the NE that leads to an upper level. Search for secret doors, and you'll find 2 boxes that contain potions, lockpicks, and a few other things. Heading to the NW, you'll be able to go further if you've freed the gryphon outside, and can acquire a feather from the gryphon in the NW corner. Look through their nests to acquire an emerald. Go east, through the gryphons, then head around again. You get attacked by a bunch of Fomorians. Continue around, and you'll get attacked by lava lizards. Next is the test of knowledge. You have to have enough woodcraft, faerie lore, rune reading, and tool use to continue. Go talk with the Raven. He wants you to go to the stone circle. Do so and return for your reward, a blessed skill ring and 10xp. On the way out, you may want to jump off the cliffs to get to the second one, and search the east wall for Sylak's scalpel. MAZE OF THORNS (F) Q: Retrieve the runes. Q: Retrieve the insect-attracting amber. Entering this area is a challenge. Many passages close up on you. A lot of dead druids are here, pillage their bodies for good equipment. There are also lots of homicidal aranea here. You objective is to get to the center, and talk with the spider queen. She'll tell you what to do about the GIFTSs, and will give you an amber quest (return with it for 10xp, and boots of the leagues). You can steal some of her eggs, if you so desire. She is also the object of a Crone Quest. OUTSIDE: To the north on the river is Kaja, who wants to see some runes. They can be found at (2). Return for some faerie lore knowledge. She also sells the power elixir and balm of life recipes. In the forest there is a battle with some shades (which gives you 100 coins and a scroll), and an energetic herb patch. Kill the druids and you'll get to take some. DRUID SHRINE (8) Q: Kill the big Fomorian. OUTSIDE: Talk with the sprites. They want you to kill a Fomorian who lives to the north. Do so for 5xp, and their gratitude. On the peninsula is the only seller of papyrus sheets. Buy a lot once you get Sylak's pen- you'll get a lot of scrolls, many of which are good for selling. Plus, you can get some spell scrolls that are unattainable. Check near the shrine for a spiritual herb patch. INSIDE- Big difference here. No one is around. Approach the altar and you'll be ambushed. You can continue approaching the altar (at the cost of sickness), but you won't get anything. The sprite out near the water spits acid on you if you're foolish enough to wait for her. DOWNSTAIRS: Two celt warriors try to stop you right off. Wax em, and head west. Now you can get to the crypts- the western one wakes the dead, the eastern one has sylak's candle. Head to the room with supplies, and check the SW wall for a secret passage. Look at the amphorae and push the button. Go south, and search the east wall. You'll find a room, and will be attacked by a bunch of celts- kill them and look at the bookshelf. You'll find some spells. Head south, and you can actually get a nether spell! Create Elixir! Oh well. Head further south, and enter the portal. Fight your way to the top, and you can get the goblet. Then you should leave. VALE OF THE SOULD (3) Q: Get the Ruby Stones. Samael will rent out souls to you. If you have cash, you may want to get one. They occasionally will help you (I've found 2 occurrences so far). He also wants some stones (found in the Roman Goblin caves), and will reward you handsomely for them (Hero of Old, Beast Call, Raise Dead spells). Finally, you can find a useless nether arts spell here. If you want, you can kill him. Here's how: Head to the east. You'll have to fight a bunch of rats. Whenever you see a pot, approach it and smash it (except for a few final exceptions), just to be a bastard. You'll be warned once by Samael, and if you continue, he'll stop selling to you. Be sure to have done everything you've wanted to first before proceeding. Then ignore his warnings. Pull the 2 hidden wheels, then go and smash the 2 jars, and continue east. You'll be presented with a series of riddles throughout this dungeon. The riddle answers are near the end of this FAQ. You'll enter a library, where you can read the deals people made in exchange for their souls. Search for 3 secrets, 2 of which lead to jars, and the other that leads to some scrolls. You'll run into some fire lizards. You'll come to a staircase as you go west, search the south wall for a secret passage. Continue west, and you'll eventually be sent to a spider maze. Check the south wall for a secret passage out. Pull a wheel a bit south and keep crushing the urns you come across. Eventually, you'll run into a bunch of goblins. Kill them, then go south. You'll be asked the final riddle. Enter, and don't try breaking any of these urns. You'll come upon Samael. Kill him, this is an age of vengeance. Plunder his treasure chest for a few goodies, then head back to the beginning. Kill the mannequin, then go through the portal. Now you can get Clouds of the Night. However, this spell requires spirit circle skill, which is something you don't have. Oh well. OUTSIDE: The S cave has lizards in it. North of this one is a ring cave. North from there is a basilisk cave. Killing them gets you a lucky bracelet, and a sylak's bolt of cloth. Finally, N of this one is the Fomorian the sprites want you to kill. On the E side of the river, you can get the stone guardian spell from the S cave, to the E is a cave with a dead body (100 coins, crystal necklace). N is an empty cave, W is a lizard family cave. SELKIE HOME (G) Q: Get the selkie pelts. This is a sad area. Maneuver to talk with Sleek. Before you can speak with him you must swear not to hurt any Selkies. Do so if you want Key IIIII. He'll give you a quest to retrieve the selkie pelts from Hagfen. Do so for 10xp, and they'll tear down a wall, allowing you to get key IIIII and a blessed sling. Go to the North, and you can access a bunch of potions and some coins. To the NE is the laboratory of Gulharus. The boxes contain herbs, except for the box across the lava. This one has a silver bracelet and a rare wand of disruption. You may be here to kill Sleek. Doing so makes every Selkie here hostile towards you. OUTSIDE: There's the cheapest source of food here, in a hut on the east side of the lake. Free the selkie man to the SW. There's a stone circle that constantly summons up lost souls and big Fomorians. Use it to gain experience, if you want. HOLLOW HILLS (L) Q: Get a gryphon feather. Flaxen will sell you nice blessed equipment. Morden identifies, Foglio sells potions and scrolls, and buys your stuff, and Thyme sells miscellaneous goodies. Talk with Toivo for information, and for the chance to get into the closed building. Talk to Rippel (who sells miscellaneous items), and ask about Weevil. Talk to Sylak (not THAT Sylak), and enter the room through the east. Talk to Genevieve to get the gryphon feather quest. You'll get one in the Aerie. Return with one for 10xp, and key VI. At the closed magical pets store, go and kill the ghost. You get a lucky bracelet for this. In the SW corner of the village in the inn, there are some gambling faerie guards- use Sylak's dice there for 100 coins (from Sarachim). The Rose Lady doesn't want to see you. She is also the object of one of the Crone's quests. You probably don't want to fight your way in, though you will have to fight your way out if you do the quest. If you talk with the goblin near the center of the town, you can acquire fake documents to get in and speak with her. You will have to find out the password, though (obtained from one of the people in the Inn- from Zeviz, or just check the end of this faq). If you attack the Rose lady, you attack the whole village. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, though. Still, don't do this unless you're sure you don't want to bother with the Hollowed Hills anymore. She has a blessed ring of protection and a wand of doom. She's tough, but can be killed. Check her room for some nice magic jewelry and other valuables. OUTSIDE: To get here, you've got to cross the river. You'll have to wade through a lot of goblins to get there, though. There's a lake with an island on it. Get to the island by searching to the west for a path. There's also a gryphon nest to the SW, kill them if you want. A bit north of the nest is an energetic herb patch. You can't get to it unless you walk through all of the paths to the NE. HAGFEN (M) Q: Kill Sleek. Q: Retrieve the fomor skull. This place is a swamp. You may find a lot of herbs, if you do some wandering. To the south is a piece of amber the spiders keep yearning for. To the east are 3 basilisks, this is a good place to capture their souls (if you have said spell). Kill them and search the body for Key IV. Enter the building and you can deal with the hags. They want you to kill Sleek, leader of the selkies. Doing so will get you a crystal key that opens a door in their basement to a scroll that gives you +4 to either the beast or craft circle. The key can also open a door to the selkie pelts (but using it in this fashion is a bad idea). They also give you a mission to retrieve the Fomor skull. To accomplish this, they teach you a chant. Go to the Goblin pits and get it for another crystal key. Killing Sleek is a much better idea if you're playing as the Romans. An extra 4 points in a spell skill can be used rather well. Do so after you do the selkie's quest (Hey, you're Romans! Loot and conquer!) This was brought to my attention from Zeviz. DOWNSTAIRS: Go through the portal to the east. The fomorians aren't hostile. The hags are packrats, and you can do a good deed and pillage them. A western box yields to one of your numbered keys, and gives an amber charm and a silver necklace. To the NW are a bunch of lava lizards, and in the pockmarked area you can use a captured soul from the Vale of the Sould to grab a worthless monkey bracelet and a warrior's bracelet. TO the SW is the Main treasure storage area. There's a chest that requires key V here. It has Sylak's Mortar and Pestle. There's a gate to the SW that blocks an important area. You can open it by going to the East and hitting the tiles like so: 2 1 3 4 then opening the door and going through the portal. You'll find the skins, some gold and some scrolls. You can get a copper necklace in a chest to the South, provided you have key 6. If Sylak's skull talks to you here, go and grab an intelligence bracelet from the red horse statue near the beginning. SPIRE (C) You can't get passed the thorns until the end of the game. OUTSIDE: Poz will sell you miscellaneous items. You'll find a ring belonging to a sprite to the NW, I gave it back to her. CASTLE AETHDOC (K) Q: Kill Kharto. You'll get here later, but there's something really useful here. OUTSIDE: Near the center of this area are a bunch of goblins. Talk with them to get started on a most worthwhile Sylak item quest: kill Kharto. Go to (N) then to (M), circle of trees, and back to here. For this you get Sylak's pen. Also, there is a strange area that will strengthen you (+2 to all 4 primary stats), if and only if you've done righteous deeds (donated money to beggars, given sprites their ring, show mercy towards slaves, help free caught animals, etc.). GOBLIN PITS (4) Q: Deliver hermit's scroll to hermit 3. OUTSIDE: There are some goblin totems with goblins to the east. In the center of the map, you'll find a fine spear hidden among the trees. There's a blind man at the crossroads, give him coins to be a good person. Elona sells potions and rings of protection, but at high prices. Find your own instead. There are some goblins guarding the pits if you try to enter from the east. Kill them for 15 coins, 15 food, and a healing elixir. INSIDE: This area is pretty easy, but it's worth mentioning that you can obtain some high level spells from the area to the NE in the second floor, and can get 2 skill points from the pool to the NW on the same floor. Go down to the third floor, and head to the hidden area in the NW. As you walk, the floor shifts so as to accommodate you. Go look at the tomb. You can't open it unless you look at both Braziers. Then grab the skull and leave through the portal. NETHERGATE (5) OUTSIDE: There's a misletoe patch to the SE. Further to the east, you'll find some salespeople. You'll probably get attacked by Celts as you explore. INSIDE: You can't go too far, or you will instantly die. Be careful, I haven't found anything good in here. Let me know if there's anything! From Zeviz: You were wondering what can be found in Nethergate village. I used the fight end cheat to explore it and didn't see anything beyond cheap junk. The Celt rewards were removed. You get an error message when trying to talk to people. There are instant death nodes everywhere, so you have to save after every step. So that place is really not worth exploring. FAERIE BAZAAR (7) Q: Obtain the Ruby from Galag-Trav. Moonfire gives you a mission to kill the Ruby-headed Fomorian in Galag-trav. For this, you get the rod of safe descent, a vital and powerful wand. Skrog will give you key IV for 250 coins after you ask him about "keys." Solberg will let you use the blessing pool for 3500 coins. The seeker will sell you spells 1-4 of the beast, and craft circle, and the first (unusable) spell of the spirit circle. You can rob the Bazaar master (who is also the object of the final Crone quest) if you have enough tool use (15 total- from Zeviz)- he has a jade necklace. You can go down at any of the staircases. Underneath the Faerie Bazaar: From Moonfire: Go east once you enter, then kill the undead. One coffin has 50 coins, fine chain mail. From Truly Fine Items: Cross the runes (you need at least 6 luck total- from Zeviz), and grab the shield and blessed studded armor. From Colotha: Cross the runes, and you can grab the dragon's blood. From the library: Go SE, and jump off the cliff. Then go south, and search the area. You'll come up in the stables. Search one of the rooms to find a dead body. Talk with the stable boy about this, and he'll admit his wrongdoing- let him go. OUTSIDE: A Fomorian wants food to the south. Feed him 200(!) food for a small metal shield and 80 coins. You probably just ought to kill him (Zeviz). Conn wants some money, go ahead and give him some. There are several shops nearby here. There's a pool which'll heal all your characters to 70HP. There's an unfriendly brigand settlement nearby too- attack them for 80 coins, 12 food, and a hasting elixir. REPTRAKOS' LAIR (6) INSIDE: When you enter, Reptrakos won't seem so happy. Search around, and get Gobo to join you. He can't fight well, but he's not too bad. He's also the only way to get to Reptrakos, so you have to let him join. He'll have you kill lizards and goblins, and will tell you about a secret door. Check the north wall, and look at the wheel. Then go west, and north, through the gate. If you have enough dexterity, you can get sylak's bowl! Also grab the cube (of unknown use), and the metal bar. Go back, and continue on, killing the charming goblins. Go and speak with Reptrakos. He'll attack you if you talk with him too much. He's very rich, so if you can kill him, that's probably a good idea. Killing him gets you a wand of doom, and a ring of resistance. His treasure trove has lots of coins, a ruby, emerald, non-magical jewelry, some potions (a power potion), a warrior's bracelet, a ring of resistance, and a blessed ring of regeneration. Wow. OUTSIDE: Starcap will not sell you stuff. You can also get Julius's boots here. A batch of witches will give you an experience-draining brew that gives you 75 spell points in the central hut. A bunch of basilisks will attack you a bit to the west, kill them for 200 coins and an onyx necklace. GOAGH-NAR (1) OUTSIDE: The fomors in the village don't much care for you but won't attack you. The end hermit is found here, but he'll attack you. There's an herb patch on the eastern part of this map. Enter the pit. INSIDE: All right, this begins chapter 3. The doors are open for you- hm. You're welcomed with open arms. Respond in kind. Search this place before going to speak with the queen. In the western room with the priest fomorian, you can find a nearby secret room with some herbs in a box. There are two boxes to the south, near the entrance which are locked with Sylak keys- open them for a blessed axe and spear. Near the arena is a passage leading to a dead warrior with a ring. Search the center box for a dexterity bracelet. Go to the northwest, search the area (a blessed sword can be found), and bring down the barriers. You get a wand of doom, some coins, and an energy elixir. You can grab a blessed leather helmet from the trophy room. Then go talk with Queen Rit. You'll want to go down another way, though- go to the big pit and climb down. FLOOR 2. Go east, kill the undead, and take its stuff (bracelet). Jump down and search the area. You'll find some nice stuff. You can return the castle from the west southwest. Search this area thoroughly. If you approach the pot of goo, you'll get sprayed by acid and will have to fight a fomor zombie. Make your way to the NW and head down the stairs. FLOOR 3. If you go too far south, you will be attacked. You may still want to do it to gain the experience. To the west is an area with some herbs, and a secret passage south leads to a bunch of fomor zombies. They want you to destroy the tablets. Return once you've done so for a fury helm and some coins. Make your way to the trial of the ordeal. You'll find that it isn't too well guarded. Go down the stairs, and destroy the tablets (summoning up a drake and two lizards). Then go back up and rob all of the chests. You get several named items: Glahz's shield, Radiant blade, a Huge Diamond, and the Skull of Stone. Unfortunately, you can't keep them- they disappear as soon as you leave. If you do choose to go down south, you can claim the Mighty gauntlets, and a blessed weapon or two. Once you're through, go back up the stairs (you can't get the fomorslayer this time, sadly). Return to Vibius with the news of your lost skull, and you'll get 10 xp. Talk with Quintus for a crummy wand of ice. CASTLE AETHDOC Enter the building. You may want to head straight for the altar and donate lots of money to get some nice stuff (Xp, Sp, Hp, and Sylak's pants of power). Then head to the North castle. NORTH CASTLE. You can get the eye right away (fighting some carytids), but then you'd be missing all the fun. Search the area and grab what you want, then go speak with Relatur. You can find a lot of good stuff, but several areas are blocked off. Be sure to check the SE library for the raise dead and break barrier (finally!) spells. INTERMISSION: Not much here, just go south. SOUTH CASTLE: Keep heading south, and hug the east wall. You'll find Boutell. Continue on south, and search the NE room for a secret passage leading to a room with a button. Press it, and some wights will come out to fight you. Kill them and search the tombs. Then head east. The altar is just odd. Continue east, and Boutell will recommend that you head north. You may want to go east instead, and look at some useless scrolls. Continue east to the collection cells, and search the NE room for a blessed metal helmet. If you're having trouble, don't continue east. If not, go ahead, and head north eventually. You'll get into a lot of fights, but will get some nice stuff. At the center east part of the map, head west, and check out the treasury. You'll find a power elixir, ruby, mighty gauntlets, jeweled ring, and a ring. Head to the center, and Boutell gives you some directions. Ignore the center room, going north. Then dump all of the blocks into the water, and head to east. In this room, go north to the wall, then go to the second sword, and head south, and leave through the door. This room has some rats, you don't have to worry about them unless you want to. Go west, then hug the wall. You'll find Borak. Kill him. Boutell gets his revenge. Then head back to the North Castle. Relitar gives you a crystal that'll give you access to the room with the eye. Go and grab it (a witch will help you). Then leave. As you are leaving, you'll start to see the sprites coming for you. Fortunately, some Romans come to assist you. Give them the eye, and go back to Shadow Valley Fort. Oops, looks like they couldn't hold on to it either. Shoot. Vibius still gives you experience and doesn't hate you, but wants you to wait while they figure out what happened. Quintus gives you a warrior's bracelet. Go to sleep, and you get assigned to purge the tunnel. Additionally, from Zeviz: If you reenter Castle Aethdoc after getting the Eye, you can only get to the entry hall of the south castle, where you are ambushed by a large group of fairy. TUNNEL Pretty straight-forward, just kill all the rats. Be sure to search for secret passages. There's one that, after a long jump, you'll find a body with some mighty gauntlets on it. Continue on, and eventually you'll get into a fight with a bunch of undead. Make your way back out of the fort. Talk with Vibius again, and you'll get to access a hidden room. In it is a strength bracelet and a dragonskin cloak. You're told your next stop is Annwn. ANNWN (E) VALLEY: Major problem here- once entering, all your food rots away. And you don't have the Create Food spell! Which means occasionally, you'll starve. Hurry to the South and go up a passage to the north. You'll find a body with 12 food on it. Phew! Check out the area with the wolves of the hunt for some nice items, including a blessed metal helmet. In the north there's a spectral warrior with a key- grab it. SPIRIT VILLAGE: Kevin the shade is actually friendly (ask him about shadow keys). There's a priestess who isn't so friendly, talk with her too much and she'll attack. There are some blessed boots in the room to the South Central. A roman shade warns you not to take any food in the SE. He also tells you about the shadow keys. The NW has been looted- be careful. Take the portal in the NE- this leads back to the Valley. VALLEY: Head west- you find some food and other miscellaneous hidden goodies. Then head east. You find some guardians blocking your way to a portal. Killing them is better. Take their portal to the- HALLS OF THE DEAD: NE is the halls of the hunt. Go there if you so desire, and step on the platform, summoning several wolves. Head to the South, that's the great hall. Don't try to enter it, although you can step out at the beginning and summon up some tough warriors. Search the south wall for a secret passage. This leads to an area with several cells. Talk with Donovan, and he gives you a quest to destroy his skull in the hall of the hunt. Do so for 2 points of hardiness. Explore a bit more- it would probably be best to hold off on trying to go back behind the fort until you've seen everything. Head towards the center to enter a portal to- THE BATTLEFIELD: Careful where you step, or you'll find yourself in a tough position. There's a dead body with food to the SE. Search around, and you'll get into some fights. There's a bunch of warriors near the middle, and a battle to the west. In the NE there are a bunch of shade. If you try to attack, one of them runs away- I've never found him. Let me know if you can find the second shadow key here. HALLS OF THE DEAD: Go to the NE or to the NW and search for secret passages. You'll find one, and will use your key to enter. You'll find four chests, containing a blessed chain mail, blessed boots and gloves, and a power elixir. Continue south, and you'll see the pit of soul gathering. Search around here, and you'll find the crown. Then run away (but not through the portal). Once you get out, you'll give the crown to Decimus and friends. Head back to the fort. Yup, they lost it again. Talk with Quintus for a blessed ring of resistance. Go to your room to sleep. Get up and talk with Vibius, then with Gaius. Look's like you're going to Spire. On your way, the crones stop you and give you guidance. SPIRE (C) This is it. It's seems to me to be a bit more exciting with the Romans than with the Celts. As you enter, the guards ignore you. Make you way to the south central, and you can get Carog, the goblin, to join you (he's actually a detriment). Search around, and you'll get hints for- something. Make your way to the guard quarters and pull the wheels, allowing you to go up or down the stairs. Head west, fight the guards, and grab some crystal wands. Then look at the scrolls. They are very potent. Head east a bit, and you'll see stairs leading down to the reward guaranteed to the Celts. Break the crystals, and be happy. Additionally, from Zeviz- Either Luck 3, or Tool Use 22, or Faerie Lore 8 are required to open the chest. Back up, and it's time to perform some tests. The easiest tests are the tests of balance (approach one of the altars- either evil or good, depending on what you've done), the test of knowledge (just try to read the books), and the stat tests. A quick note on the stat tests (from Zeviz): Nethergate tests (stats are total for the party): Strength - 17 Dexterity - 25 Luck - 7 Intelligence - 25 They're all rather easy (but avoid the test of pain- that's just annoying). Some tests ask you a question. 12 runes are possible. Once you're done, go to the stairs. Sylak is waiting for you. Crud. You get sent to the Hedge maze, a real pain. HEDGE MAZE. Don't bother with light sources, they don't work. One of the best things you can do is start a fire. Head west, then a north (following the flicker of light), and you'll light up the whole realm. Phew. In the NE you'll find Crumb, and the SW you'll find Vlado. The walls here close off every now and then, but there's always a way out. You'll have to run around a bit in order to get out, but eventually you can make it. Since this level is so much fun, I'll leave it to you to figure out. Once you exit, you can ascend to the final floor. NETHER GATE. Delete Carog if you have him. He's a cowardly punk. He's no longer useful. Go down, and hug the walls. In the SE you'll find some robes, which will hide you. Go up on the platform (Carog will tattle on you if he's in your party, making your life a bit more of a pain), and you have two options. Beat up Sylak enough that he brings down the gate, or steal the eye of Cathdoc. The latter is easier. Once done, all is well. Congratulations, you've just beaten the game with the Romans! -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- VI. INDEX A. BLESSING POOL ITEM RESULTS Pen and Ink - NADA Blessed sword - NADA Emerald - Ruby Amber - Ruby Piercing crystal - Ruby Lamp - NADA Candle - NADA Torch - NADA Any potion - Potion of Knowledge (all of them) Fine Lockpicks - Magic lockpicks Lockpicks - Magic lockpicks Wands - NADA Papyrus - NADA Scroll of withering - Major protection scroll Boots - Blessed boots Pants - NADA Silver necklace - Copper necklace Silver bracelet - Dexterity bracelet Silver ring - Ring of protection Gold ring - Ring of skill Gold bracelet - Intelligence bracelet Gold Necklace - Crystal necklace Jewelled ring - Ring of regeneration Monkey's bracelet - NADA Druid's Robe - NADA Green Cloak - Spidersilk cloak Purple Cloak - Dragonskin cloak Stola - Dragonskin cloak Toga - Spidersilk cloak White tunic - Dragonskin cloak Green tunic - Dragonskin cloak Hammer - NADA Spoon - NADA Trowel - NADA Bucket of Water - NADA Sack of grain - NADA Stirgil - NADA Staff - NADA Sandals - NADA Scalpel - NADA Bolt of Cloth - NADA First Aid Kit - NADA Needle - NADA Skull - NADA Thread - NADA Bowl - NADA Plate - NADA Dice - NADA Amphorae of wine - NADA Torc - NADA Earrings - NADA Pot - NADA Pillow - NADA Morter and Pestle - NADA Bronze Fibulae - Gold fibulae Gold Fibulae - NADA Iron Bar - Bar of silver Bar of Lead - Bar of silver Bar of Tin - Bar of silver Silver Drinking cup - NADA Golden Goblet - NADA Poor fur - NADA Nice fur - NADA Healing Herbs - Curing elixir Spiritual Herbs - Hasting elixir Energetic Herbs - Energy elixir Misletoe - Healing elixir Ceremonial dagger - Blessed dagger Weapon - Blessed weapon Armor (not cloth) - Blessed armor B. Spell locator Place (floor): where. Nethergate: Cormac gives you a mission to retrieve the Bronze disk and will sell you war 1-6, heal 1-6. Goblin pits (2): Second hall of learning, west book summons 2 lost souls, and 1-4 craft circle spells, east book. Third hall- beast circle 1-4, some later info. Ruined Hall (2): Altar teaches you total healing. Burial glen: Altar gives you Miraculous revival if you've done enough quests. Hagfen (2): Do their quests to get some scrolls which'll teach you 4 levels in the beast and craft circles. Stone Circle: Sever seal and break barrier from the altar, and later Doom. Faerie Bazaar(2): From the library: Go SE, and jump off the cliff. Then go NW and use sever seal to bring down the protection on the urn, and get the spell inside, Wind Warriors. Library- 1-6 of craft, beast and spirit circles (offered a lot less if you're playing as the Romans). Mighty beast from completing Bazaarmaster's last quest. Reptrakos lair: Return tablet to Reptrakos for the mighty beast and call spirit spells. Maze of Thorns: Call hunt, solve spider riddle to the NW. Celt Shrine: In Mugain's room: Capture soul, simulacrum, create elixir. Heartshock for returning pelt to Samael. Vale of the Sould: Clouds of the night, hidden well. Heroes of Old and Mighty beast for obtaining the ruby stones. Outside Vale: Stone guardian spell from the S cave. Hollowed Hills: Talk with Galitan (if you freed him) and he'll teach you soul lance and stone guardian. Castle Aethdoc: (S) Agate sells you sever seal, Pelanth sells you break barrier. (N)You can get raise dead and total healing from the room to the SE. Annwn: Control life from Donnely. Three Crones (2): First 2 beast and craft spells in their hidden room. C. NPC stats Brigid (Celts) Str 8 Dex 5 Int 2 End 6 Mel 13 Spe 6 Jav 5 Sli 3 Arm 1 Ber 0 Har 6 Def 2 - Dru 1 Hea 0 War 0 Bea 0 Cra 0 Spi 0 Fir 0 Her 2 Fae 0 Woo 3 Bar 1 Luc 0 - Numerius (Celts) Str 5 Dex 5 Int 2 End 6 Mel 8 Spe 5 Jav 11 Sli 3 Arm 1 Ber 0 Har 3 Def 6 - Dru 1 Hea 0 War 0 Bea 0 Cra 0 Spi 0 Fir 3 Her 0 Fae 0 Woo 0 Bar 1 Luc 0 Too 7 Marcus (Romans) Str 5 Dex 5 Int 2 End 11 Mel 8 Spe 5 Jav 5 Sli 3 Arm 1 Har 7 Def 5 Rom 4 - Dru 1 Hea 0 War 0 - - Fir 0 Her 0 Too 1 Woo 3 Bar 1 Luc 0 - Rhian (Romans) Str 3 Dex 4 Int 7 End 3 Mel 3 Spe 3 Jav 1 Sli 4 Arm 1 Har 1 Def 1 Rom 0 - Dru 6 Hea 4 War 5 - Cra 4 Fir 1 Her 1 Too 2 Woo 0 Bar 3 Luc 0 Fae 3 D. RIDDLE ANSWERS: Maze of Thorns: 0. Vale of the Sould: Shield, helmet, gloves. Annwn: Smile (Celts). Bones (Romans) Hollow Hills: Exile. Spire: Raven, Velanna. E. Either Or Quests: Deliver the Amber to either the GIFTSs or the Spider queen. Reward: GIFTSs: Sylak's enlightening amber. Spider queen: Seven league boots. My advice: Seven league boots are best. Deliver the Rosy stones to the Rose lady or to Samael. Reward: Rose lady: +1 to strength, dexterity and intelligence. Samael: Raise Dead, Hero of Old, and Beast Call. My advice: Skill points are nice, but this is the only place to get Hero of Old. Go for Samael. F. Sylak Items Skull- Hill with Fomorians, tells you location of spells and will help you in Hagfen. Scalpel- Aerie, helps first aid skill. Cloth- A cave near Aerie, Generates random clothing items Pants- one of the crone's murder quests for the Romans, good defense. Also found in Castle Aethdoc. Candle- Celtic shrine, for the romans. Generates light occasionally. Horn- Vanarium, summons warrior when blown. Mortar and pestle- Hagfen, generates random herbs. Dice- Lake near hollowed hills, useful only at the gambling goblins near Nethergate. Trash- pit near Vale of the sould, no use. Pen- Goblins near Castle Aethdoc, Generates random magic scrolls if you have paper. Enlightening amber- GIFTS, gives bonuses to knowledge skills. Nourishing bowl: Reptrakos' lair, occasionally gives food. Herb Patches- Misletoe- East and Southeast of Nethergate. Across the river from the Burial glen Spiritual- in the swampy area near the Selkie Home, guarded by sprites near Hollowed Hills Healing- Near Annwyn. Energetic- In forest south of Vanarium ALCHEMY (for the Romans) FROM ZEVIZ: Balm of Life - Kaja - western edge of map - Pretty Average Beast Elixir - Vanarium - Titus - Somewhat Pricey Energy Draught - under Ruined Hall - bookcase in NW Hasting Draught - 2nd level of Roman goblin mine - box in NE - 2nd level of Celt goblin pit - book in NE Power Elixir - Kaja -western edge of map - Pretty Average Restoring Elixir - Vanarium - Titus - Somewhat Pricey - under Celt Temple - book in 2nd library room Strength Draught - under Ruined Hall - hidden bookcase in NW - Vanarium - Titus - Somewhat Pricey Woad - Vanarium - Titus - Somewhat Pricey Healing and Curing- Shadowvale fort, to the SW, in the hospital. Look at the box. G. BUGS: Freedom ring bug: Not too problematic, but the freedom ring is very small in the inventory, but when dropped on the ground, is pretty big. Mildly humorous. Bad colors for PC: For the PC version of Nethergate, the letters for an item description (not in-depth) are obscured by the dark colored background. Fight-End bug: A significant problem in a few places, most notably the Shadowvale Fort. When you press fight, and then end, your characters move in one direction or another. This presents problems in the Fort, especially after killing a bunch of Romans. Once ended, your party may move beyond the "instant death" barrier, and can't get out. This is also mentioned in "Cheating." Resurrection bug: Resurrection doesn't seem to work. Just reload instead. CHEATING: The Fight-End Trick: When you end combat, your party moves a little. If all your characters are in a line, the line will always move ahead. This movement bypasses all special encounters and traps. You can use this trick to explore areas that are normally closed to your side (for example, explore Nethergate village as Romans). Blessing Pool Abuse: If you put a stack of items into the blessing pool, you will get an equally large stack of converted items. So if you buy hundreds of cheapest potions, you can get huge quantities of Knowledge Brew, that you can use to get tons of skill points or resell for lots of money. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- VII. Version info. 1.0, 12/3/01, Celt FAQ finished. Info taken from the spiderweb message boards. 1.1, 12/26/01. Roman FAQ finished. Lots of info provided by Zeviz. 1.2, 1/31/02. A lot of info provided again from Zeviz. Many thanks to Zeviz, Fallen, Nooboon, Sarachim, and General Baziron.