SHADOW TOWER Walkthrough, Version 2.5, date: December 29, 2001 For the Sony Playstation (English Version), US By David Bunch bunch_david@hotmail.com US Version for the Sony Playstation Distributed by Agetec, Inc., 11/1999 Produced by FROM Software, 1997, 1998. Unpublished work, Copyright 2000 - 2002 by David Bunch. This FAQ is for private and personal use only. It can only be reproduced electronically, and if placed on a web page or site, may be altered as long as this disclaimer and the above copyright notice appear in full. This FAQ is not to be used for profitable/promotional purposes; this includes being used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. or being incorporated into magazines, etc. in ANY way. This FAQ was created and is owned by myself, David Bunch . All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged that are not specifically mentioned in this FAQ. Please give credit where it is due. Shadow Tower is (c) From Software and (c) AGETEC, Inc. This FAQ, and future revisions of it, can be found at: -------------------------------------------------------------------- GameFAQ's at http://www.gamefaqs.com Cheat Code Central - http://www.cheatcc.com/ Vgstrategies at http://www.gameadvice.com Statement of Purpose ==================== This FAQ/Walkthrough will be providing a lot of detail about the game play of Shadow Tower, equipment and item information, and some creature information. It is not intended to give the reader a step by step, blow by blow plan of movement through the game because then the reader will be playing my game, not their own. However, the look of the walkthrough will be in a similar structure, related in the manner in which I went through the Regions. I will be providing information about key locations, some direction of how I recommend moving through the Regions, which can be easily discarded in favor of the readers own plan of attack, and general observations that may or may not enhance game play. THIS FAQ IS NOTHING BUT SPOILERS. My first recommendation to the reader who just bought the game is to stop reading now, study the booklet that came with the game, put the disk in the machine and go to it. You will enjoy the game far more on the basis of self- discovery than following this FAQ. But the need for a FAQ on this game to help to resolve problems and to find missing items that will enable you to move forward is clearly needed. I am providing this for the many who will ignore the reviewers and critics of this game and those others like them who enjoy the first-person shooter type of game, especially in their RPG games. I hope you come to enjoy the game as much as I have and as many other gamers have. ------------------------------------ SPECIAL THANK YOU'S ------------------------------------ The people at The Verdite Inn (a club in Yahoo Land) and the Agetec Messageboard, as well as the occasional email have been essential in helping me revise and update the details of this FAQ. To them, the iron sharpening my iron, go the greatest thanks and kudos for helping make this work as accurate as possible. * * * * * * Also, a special thank you to JaMarc "Raistlin" Neeley, who has helped me immensely with finding items, getting their stats and Drop sites, Finding missing creatures, as well as helping to develop a FAQ on the Equipment we have found, to be submitted later. He has helped in the completion of this Walkthrough and in the design and development of the next FAQ to come. Thanks a lot Buddy. * * * * * * ------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS - Shadow Tower ------------------------------------ I. SHADOW TOWER VS KING'S FIELD - The Differences II. MAPS and My WEBSITE A. Using the Maps III. MISC DETAILS A. Using Magic (new) B. When Creatures Drop Items C. Status Report Tip D. *Special Note - Discovering Items/Random Creatures E. Shadow Weapons (updated) F. My Personal Bias G. Encountering New Creatures (updated) H. Special Locations - CUNE Shops, etc. IV. WALKTHROUGH V. SHADOW TOWER ENTRY VI. HUMAN WORLD A. Solitary Realm B. Hidden Region (updated) C. Cursed Region D. Forgotten Region VII. EARTH WORLD A. Rotting Cave B. **Special Instructions - ITEM Stones (Smithy's) C. Poisonous Cavern D. Quaking Cavern E. Stone Cavern F. False Pit Cavern G. Hostile Rock Cavern H. BOSS FIGHT - APOLLOS VIII. FIRE WORLD A. Phoenix Cave B. Burning Cavern C. Molten Cavern D. Ashen Cavern E. BOSS FIGHT - EBONY KNIGHT IX. WATER WORLD A. Impure Pool Area B. INTERLUDE - In The Tower C. Sunken River Area D. Watery Labyrinth Area E. White Rain Area F. BOSS FIGHT - MAGI MAGUS X. ILLUSION WORLD A. Gloomy Domain B. Bewilderment Domain C. Worship Domain D. Dream Domain E. BOSS FIGHT - MASQUERADE XI. BEAST WORLD A. False Eye Area B. Screeching Area C. BOSS FIGHT - NECRON XII. DEATH WORLD A. Dark Castle Layer B. Undead Layer C. Lingering Curse Layer D. Gate of the Dead E. BOSS FIGHT - HALLOW MAGE XIII. VOID - BOSS FIGHTS XIV. CREATURES IN SHADOW TOWER XV. Final Credits ============================ SHADOW TOWER vs. KINGS FIELD ============================ Shadow Tower follows in the footsteps of the King's Field I & II series by From Software. It is a first person 'shooter' type of game with swords and magic, instead of guns and bombs. Those familiar with KF I & II (hereafter) will be very familiar with the general feel and moves to this type of RPG. There are notable differences and factors that I will elaborate for those unfamiliar to those 2 prior games. >>>> No music in the background. For many, the lack of music is a BIG negative and frankly, it does make it easier to get bored without that soundtrack in the background to add momentum to game play. Still, it does add a bit of a different feel that is not all that bad if you can get into it. It actually gives a more 'realistic' edge to game play, because you do start using your senses more to hear and see what is coming next. If you were to really go into a dungeon with all your equipment, do you really think that there will be music mysteriously playing in the background that suddenly changes to something new when you drop down a hole and then returns to the old music after you climb a rope ladder 2 hours later? It made the game more 'realistic' for me. If I needed background noise I just turned on my favorite radio station or put a CD on and everything was fine. >>>> No Experience Levels. Yep, you read it right. NO LEVELS. Not in experience or weapon proficiency nor levels of dungeon (they are actually called Regions and Realms in ST; a technicality but true). Each battle and discovery nets you experience which IMMEDIATELY affects your characters stats. Not too many games can claim that each battle makes you more proficient for the very next battle EVERY time. OK, yeah, we are talking mere points here, but if you walk into that large chamber with 10 creatures to take out, and after each one is dispatched you are a little more effective, then by the time you take out #9 you not only have down the moves to wipe out #10, but also the extra muscle and speed, etc.... We're talking no- brainer here. >>>> Equipment has a durability rating and it will wear out. This durability rating never goes up, it has a set ceiling per item. It can and does go down though. This means that if you get bludgeoned to near death by an opponent, then that favorite armor of yours is going to come out of the battle with dents and breaks that need mending, making it less durable and less effective protection until you do. Nice sharp swords that are used to carve up heavily armored opponents can break or become chipped and dented themselves, needing to be repaired and resharpened. Use of magic items (rings) which have spells in them can be used a limited number of times before you need to re-energize them. This is just plain common sense and adds the factor of realism that even the prior KF games did not do. Does it get frustrating? Yep, it can. In other games, the swords were always sharp and never needed sharpening; you would never find a dull sword anywhere or a rusted armor anywhere. You can and do in the Shadow Tower. Magic spells came from within you, not out of objects alone. If you use weapons judiciously and use the item (Ashes) that can 'repair' them in game play or visit the 'smithy' that allows you to use Hit Points to repair the items, you will do fine. An important thing to watch for is the red 'X' symbol that appears on the right side of the screen when an item has reached a durability rating of 3 or less. This occurs by regular use or by being damaged in an attack. This is your warning that some piece of equipment is about to break. It is MUCH more expensive to repair a zero-durability item than one that still has at least one point left. Be careful with items that reach this point. >>>> Potions come in only one incarnation, not 3 or more. This means that the same healing potion you find in the first chamber of the Human Region (Level one equivalent) is the same potion you find near the last Boss at the bottom of the tower and they do exactly the same thing - they always bring you to your max HP's. The same is true for the magic potions. And in my opinion, the healing potion becomes the most important item in the game, because of both the maxing-out feature and also because it is hit points that are used to repair your equipment and rings. You NEED these to keep your equipment in top shape, so long as you know where the 'smithy's' are. >>>> Movement. Pro and con with movement in Shadow Tower. The cons are when you enter a room with many creatures, the game play and movement becomes choppy as the Playstations CPU works to keep everything moving. Action slows down, recovery of the action bars for Strength and Magic slows down, turning around becomes a chore, etc. I just try to plot my attacks to minimize this problem. Most of the time I can, a few times you cannot and have to deal with being ganged up on. BUT THIS REALLY DOESN'T OCCUR OFTEN ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY REALLY BIG ISSUE IN GAME PLAY. Pros are that this (movement) is an area you need to learn ASAP because it makes game play move faster, and no, that is NOT a contradiction from the cons mentioned above. The D-pad controls forward and backward movement and left-right TURNING. The L1 and R1 buttons control sliding/strafing left and right, respectively. By getting these controls down and combining them you will take fewer hits in battle, move around right angle corners smoothly, and be able to peek around a corner before getting nailed by that skeletons sword that was just waiting to gut you. For example, let's say you are walking down a corridor and it turns right ahead. While pressing the up key on the D-pad, press L1 also and you start a slow arc-turn that will allow you keep moving around the corner without having to stop at the intersection, use the D-pad to turn right and then resume forward motion. By using this type of combination, you can run circles (literally) around opponents, facing them the entire time and preventing them from getting a direct hit on you while getting hits on them with impunity. ==================================== MAPS ==================================== Another drawback to Shadow Tower is the lack of a map, supplied neither within the game nor in a strategy guide. This is a rather appalling oversight by the designers of the game, even if the map was only for the main areas and without any notes. But do not despair! There were maps available online at From Software's website but they appear to have discontinued them. However, I and a friend at the Verdite Inn in Yahoo-land have copied them and translated the Japanese text to English. They can be found in the Photos section of the Verdite Inn, a Club in Yahoo, but you would have to become a member to access them. It is located at: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/theverditeinn SHADOW TOWER WEBSITE Also, I have created a website through Angelfire with an updated version of this FAQ and with the Maps. It can be found at the following web address: http://www.angelfire.com/games3/ShadowTower/ ----------------------------- Using The Maps - Compass Directions ----------------------------- In the walkthrough to follow, I will make reference to these maps because it is easier to visualize what I am indicating with them. I will be giving certain locations in a given Region an indicator like Chamber A, Cave B, The Pool Room, etc. These are entirely arbitrary and of my own creation and are not to be confused as the actual names of these locations, if there are any. I will try to make them logical and easily referenced by things found in the room or significant structures at that location. This is meant to aid the reader (and myself) in this walkthrough. I will also be using compass directions (N, S, E, W) to indicate which direction to travel, where you enter the room, which wall has a secret door, etc. It is important to note that there is NOTHING in the game or it's options that help you figure this out or see which direction you are going, unlike KF I and II, which did have a compass. I am again arbitrarily using the maps and their images as they appear on my screen to determine NSEW directions. Some of the text on these maps is in English. Whichever way you have to hold the map to be able to read the words from left to right (the images all are in this position at the From Software website) determines the compass directions, with N being at the top, etc. ==================================== MISC DETAILS ==================================== ----------------------------- How To Use Magic ----------------------------- I have received multiple inquiries on this very important aspect of game play. You can have 2 spells equipped to use at any time, but to use magic you MUST first find a ring and equip it on either your left or right hand, one spell per ring per hand. Then chose from the spells available with that ring and equip it on the Equip or Equip Info portions of the Menu. Activation of the spell requires a 2 key combination. If you access the Options selection of the Menu and look at the Controller Configuration, you will find that Magic is dedicated to the CIRCLE, Right Hand is the TRIANGLE key, and the Left Hand is the SQUARE key. So, if you want to cast the Magic spell that is equipped to your Left Hand, tap the combination CIRCLE + SQUARE, and the Right Hand is CIRCLE + TRIANGLE. Watch your angle, because some of the spells travel in direct line-of-sight. If you are angled to look down just a bit, that Fireball spell just may hit your opponent's feet instead of its chest. ----------------------------- When Creatures Drop Items ----------------------------- If my experience with this game and my interpretation of it is correct, then practically every creature you will fight has a percentage chance of dropping some item that is usable by you. There are creatures, like Bosses, that will drop SPECIFIC items EVERY time, but I found at least 2 bosses who drop 2 different items, 1 common and one unique, and several creatures that have dropped different unique items. But the rest seem to operate such that sometimes they drop nothing, sometimes they drop one specific item like a healing potion that is common to that specific creature type and sometimes they will drop a unique item like a unique ring, weapon or armor piece. Because of this I make the basic and understandable recommendation to SAVE OFTEN and always before you wipe out an entire room of creatures. For example, there is one room in the Human Realm that has only one type of creature in it called a Blood Skull. At different times (due to the untimely demise of my character) I have encountered anywhere from 2 to 6 of these creatures in this room. One time I killed all 4 that appeared and each one gave me a different item. Another time I received 2 of the same 4 items and one other sword. I had died shortly after leaving that room, so my repeated attempts to visit again have yielded that new sword only once. There is another room in one of the Earth Realms that has one main type of creature that drops rings, but only rarely and then only some of the creatures do. They do not appear to drop any other item except rings. This is why I think there is a small percentage with some of the creatures to drop something special. This process of dropping items will net you the most number of items in the game. There are plenty of things to just find, but taking the time to fight the same creatures several times may (and will) reveal which creatures drop rare items. My ring collection by the time I finished was probably very complete due to this process. I will mention those that I know drop specific items but I am sure I missed some of the special items. ------------------------------ **** STATUS REPORT TIP **** ------------------------------ While writing this FAQ, a fellow gamer named NANOFRAME pointed out to me that there was a way to track your progress from the main menu. Hit the select key to access the menu, and then hit the Triangle key. This leads you to a status screen showing what Region you are in and the stats of how many of the total number of Cunes (99), Items (200) and Creatures (600) you have acquired/killed off. If you then hit the R1 key, you will be taken to a screen that will keep track on a percentage basis of your progress. When you get to 100% in a given Region, you have done all, acquired all, killed all that you could possibly do/get/kill on that Region. After almost 2 times through and a third time started to clear up some detail on the first Regions, I still had not come across this menu. It helped me greatly to know that I had cleared each Region no less than 76% and many to 100% in my desire to ransack this game for details. ****** Important Note: On Discovering Items and Random Creatures ******* The information I supply regarding what is in a given room is based upon my having traveled through that room many times in several games. The number of creatures is based upon the total number of creatures I encountered over the entire game play. For example, one of the caves in the WATER WORLD had 2 creatures in it, which I took out. I passed through that room at least a dozen more times before I moved on to the lower levels. I came back through once, encountered one more creature and THAT one dropped a major armor. So you may not encounter the total number of creatures I did or you may encounter more. Exploration is the key to successful completion of your shopping list. It is the design of the game to be variable so an exact number of creatures per area is very difficult to determine, but obviously the designers did put limits on each Region, hence the ability to create a percentage based record of your travels per level. I will also include in the walkthrough the name of each monster encountered on the level, where encountered and the items I was able to get them to drop. This simply shows what I found. If you found items that I did not or found a creature dropped something in one area that I found somewhere else, I would appreciate you notifying me so that I may make this FAQ as complete as possible. I will not be sharing every detail of the creatures you encounter in this FAQ except where I think that the information is vital to get through the area quickly. Some creatures can poison, spray acid, paralyze, or slow you down. For the most part, I will leave this information out of the detail except where I remember a lot of frustration in dealing with that type of attack in a given situation. I do this to keep the design and feel of the game as original and intended as the designers planned it. Please do not complain about not telling you this stuff in this FAQ. I do want you to have some fun discovering and challenging new monsters. ----------------------------- Shadow Weapons ----------------------------- There are special weapons to be found like the Shadow Blade, Shadow Wolf, and Shadow Tiger. These are simply more weapons that have Darkness as their primary power, such as the Fiery Long Sword has Fire as its primary power. There are also 'Shining' weapons, Frost weapons, etc. I will eventually include an Items list in a FAQ or attached to this Walkthrough. ----------------------------- My Personal 'Bias' ----------------------------- This walkthrough will introduce you to my personal bias to obtain as many of the items as can possibly be obtained the first time through. Therefore my style of writing and structure of details will reflect an emphasis on the items to be found and where. You've been forewarned. ----------------------------- Encountering New Creatures ----------------------------- One of the advantages to this game engine is that as soon as you come into close proximity to a new creature, even on the other side of a wall sometimes, their stats immediately appear in your menu list "Creature Information". You can access the information before you engage them and prepare yourself for the coming battle. This is a good habit to develop quickly. Also, this Creature List also helps you know how your character will benefit from your taking it out. This is where you can view how each creature increases your stats in specific areas like Strength, Speed, Defense, Spirit, Harmony, etc. Thus, the Acid Slimes you first encounter will, upon their demise, increase your stats +1 in Balance, the Blood Slime will increase +1 to Melting, the Dark Spiders will Increase +1 to Strength and Piercing, etc. Other stats can be affected, like the Blood Slime also increased my MP by +1, but the other stats will also increase with your gaining 'experience', or as game play progresses. ----------------------------- Special Locations - Shops, Saves Points, WARP points. ----------------------------- There are several locations that have 'markers' that look somewhat like tombstones that serve important functions. Save Points are obvious and have a star on the maps to identify them. The locations marked MP and HP on the maps are ones which allow you to trade equipment for potions. The locations marked ITEM are what I call 'smithy's', the places where you can repair your equipment. WARP points with an English letter (A, B, C...) are inter-Region WARP points, meaning they move you within the region you are currently in ONLY. WARP points without the letter take you to another WARP point in another region. These are the shortcuts you want to keep track of. Below is the list of items in the CUNE shops. The items offered remain the same no matter where you find a CUNE shop. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ CUNE Shop $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ The following are the items for trade grouped under their 'cost' in CUNES. They never change no matter where you find the CUNE Shop. 1 Cune ------ *Torch* - You will need some of these but I really didn't use them very often. You will probably find enough of them to satisfy, so trade for them only if the need is great. *Sacred Feather* - This item teleports you back to the LAST save point you saved at. This is necessary to get out of a few areas so keep a few of these in stock, but not until after exiting the HUMAN REALM. They are also helpful if you want to get back to a prior Realm where you saved but cannot walk back to because of various possible reasons. Several creatures will drop these and realistically, unless you are doing a lot of exploring, you shouldn't have to buy very many of these, if at all. *Hpotion* - A very common item to find and have dropped. Add to that the fact you can trade old equipment at certain sites for Hpotions makes trading Cunes for these almost unnecessary. However, as already stated, this is to me the most essential item to survival in the game. Keep a good stock of these on hand. I kept a stock of 30 and had a few encounters where I went through 10 of them before I figured everything out. *Mpotion* - Not as common an item to find and have dropped as the Hpotion, so you may wish to trade for a few of these. However, you will probably not use magic often enough in the first half of the game and since these max out your MP's, then they become seldom needed until later. Add to that the fact you can trade old equipment at MP sites for Mpotions makes trading Cunes for these unnecessary until later in the game if you find yourself short. Again, keep several of these on hand, especially after you reach the EARTH REALMs because this is where you will begin to use magic. *Anti-Venom* - a pretty common item that is dropped and found. Trade for only if you have had a hard time finding any (unlikely!). 3 Cunes ------ *Soul Pod-14* - These should be towards the top of your list of things to trade for. You WANT these. *Dorado's Ashes* - You will find many of these but you may determine you need to trade for a few of them. Keep some on hand for emergencies. 5 Cunes ------ *Soul Pod-29* - These also should be towards the top of your list of things to trade for. You REALLY WANT these. 7 Cunes ------ *Deadly Broad Sword* - The first Region of the EARTH REALM has the Broad Sword lying on the ground. This sword is a slight improvement over that weapon. Wait and decide if you need it after finishing that Region. (I didn't). 9 Cunes ------ *Harden Gauntlet* - You will have obtained dropped Gauntlets by the time you can reasonably afford this. There are several in the EARTH WORLDS and at least one in the FIRE WORLD. Wait and determine if you can live without it. 10 Cunes ------ *Beast Key* (BEAST WORLD Item) - Wait to buy this. You will need it in the Screeching Region of the BEAST WORLD to take out three monsters and collect three Cunes and a sword. This appears to be the only place to use it and therefore does not really net a good return for the investment. Personally, I only traded for it to be able to raise my stats some and to try to take out all the creatures and collect all the Cunes possible by the end of the game. *Bracelet of Movement* - Long before you can afford this, you will very likely have already have encountered a creature that drops one similar. Low priority. 12 Cunes ------ *Keenest Bastard Sword* - By the time you can afford this, you really don't need it. To think you have to trade for this when there are so many better weapons available both before and after you can afford to part with 12 Cunes. Nice weapon, but is it REALLY worth it? 16 Cunes ------ *Fortune Great Helm* - Perhaps the best magic aiding helm, and worth waiting for. It is VERY heavy headgear. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ SHADOW TOWER WALKTHROUGH Version 1.0, Part 1 ************************************** SHADOW TOWER - ENTRY ************************************** You will start in the middle of the tower on stone steps going down in front of you and up behind you. Do not bother trying to go up, the path will become blocked if you do. Stop immediately. Please note that you start with 751 Hit Points and 550 Magic Points. Not bad for a beginning character right? Don't let it go to your head because you can loose HP just as fast as if you were first level in KFI & II. Hit the 'select' key to activate the menu system. Change any setting you want and notice that the only thing you presently possess is a short sword. NOTHING else. When you finish looking through the menu, then return to the tower and descend the steps and walk until you come to the wood door. Press 'X' to enter and you begin your journey through the tower. ************************************** HUMAN WORLD ************************************** In these Realms, I will start out rather descriptive until you obtain a reasonable amount of equipment to ensure your survival. By the time you go to the EARTH WORLDs, you will only need basic instructions and the descriptions of what you can find. HOW you kill off creatures will be dependent on which weapons you have found and that YOU like to use. Since dropping items by creatures is a variable, I am allowing for that factor by just giving the way I would travel through the game. -------------------------------------- HW - Solitary Realm -------------------------------------- Upon entry, you will be facing NORTH. Take some time to test out your swing with the short sword and test your movement ability, especially the L1-R1 buttons in conjunction with the d-pad keys. When done, then proceed down the hallway towards the first chamber with pillars in it, the Altar Room. The Altar Room contains: >2-3 Acid Slimes (Drop Anti-Venom, Cap) >1 Blood Slime (Hpotion) >Find: Hpotion, Quilted Armor As you enter the Pillared Hall with an Altar in it, the pillar immediately on your right has a Healing Potion (Hpotion) behind it. Leave it for now and concentrate instead on the Green Slimes on the floor. There may also be a Blood Slime. This is variable. Tilt your view downward a bit with the L2-D2 keys and watch the slimes. They like to toss clouds of acid (green) and poison (red). Time your attack to match your swing and then back off. If you stay too close to these creatures you will get poisoned and die before you can obtain anything to cure you. If you encounter 3 slimes, the one that is farthest west from you (in the SW corner area) drops the Cap sometimes. Finish off the slimes, pick up anything they dropped, claim the Hpotion behind the pillar and then walk behind the altar. Pick up the Quilted Armor and stop to equip yourself. The book on the altar does nothing so proceed to the NW and go through the short corridor on the N wall. >The Hall of Corpses contains: >Dark Spiders (Drop Morning Star, Buckler Shield, Acid Vaccine, Hpotions) >Find: Hpotion The Dark Spider you see will take at least 2 hits. Use the forward-hit-backup method of attacking to take it out. It will drop the Morning Star. This weapon is effective against the Dark Spiders if you want to equip it. Move to the East and take out the other Spiders here. One will drop a Buckler Shield. When finished, go back to the West end of this area and get the Hpotion. The sound you keep hearing appears to be the 'shuffling' of the corpses laid out here. Maybe the Dark Spiders laid some eggs in them?? Anyway, move to the East and then turn South through some more corpses. At the far south wall there is some writing on the wall to read if you want. Turn East and walk just a few steps. The short corridor to the N ends in a secret door, but has 2 Skeletons that will probably slaughter you right now. Wait a while for these and come back later. >The Graveyard contains: >2 Demon Bats (Drop Long Swords) >Skeleton (in grave) (Drop Leather Armor) >Dark Spiders (on return trips) (Drop Quilted Armor, Acid Vaccine, Hpotions) >Find: Hpotion, 2x Soul Pod +5, Torch, Cune, Cune (down grave-hole) Continue into the next area, a Graveyard. To the far N there are 2 Demon Bats on the roof that aren't that hard to take out. Move over and 'behind' them, avoiding their sonic attacks, then look up and attack. Finish them off first before collecting the other things lying around on the ground. Some Dark Spiders might appear now or upon your return to this area later. Now look at the graves. All but two of them have little wood fences around them. The other two need to be searched. Go to the one nearest the W wall where you entered and search it ONCE. You will obtain your first Cune. Search it again and the grave will open and out pops a Skeleton that can drop Leather Armor. The other grave will just open and provide a hole to drop down into to reach the HUMAN REALM - Cursed Region. There is a Cune down there, but you can obtain it once you enter the cursed region later. Do not jump down this hole right now. Instead, head towards the NW corner of this area and walk up to the blank wall that is a secret door. Open it and go to the next door. This will take you to the HUMAN REALM - Hidden Region. You can go back and try for the two Skeletons behind the other secret door now if you wish. If you want to wait, return to them through the regular door leading from the Hidden Region to the Solitary Region that opens directly into their area when you finish off the Hidden Region level. Time your attacks carefully to take as little damage as possible. After taking them out you can enter this area and obtain another Soul Pod +5. The door at the far N leads to another entrance into the HUMAN REALM - Hidden Region. I recommend going through the Graveyard secret door first and this walkthrough will begin from there. -------------------------------------- HW - Hidden Region -------------------------------------- You enter Facing West. This is a corridor that takes a few turns but there is nothing in this corridor to attack you. Follow it and the corridor branches off to the N after 2 turns. This leads to the 'shop' listed as 'CUNE' on the maps where you can trade Cunes for items. The menu is always the same, except that there are a limited number of Soul Pods you can buy. Since you only have 1 Cune right now, don't buy anything right now. From here, turn S and then W, following the next leg of the corridor to the Torture Chamber. You will enter this room from the East. The following instructions will take you to the Save point before you kill anything. >The Torture Chamber contains: >2-3 Acid Slimes (Drop Anti-Venom, Leg Guard) >1-2 Blood Slimes (Drop Cunes, Hpotions) >Find: Ashes, SW corner. I recommend passing through this place without killing anything. But if you must, take out the slimes, pick-up the Ashes (used to repair equipment while walking through the Tower), visit the NW jail door (locked) and observe the armor and corpse. On the E wall in the SE corner is some writing on the wall. Exit through the door in the S near the writing. At the next junction of the corridor, going straight ahead (S) will take you back to the Solitary Region after passing a warp point to the EARTH WORLD Forgotten Region. For now, turn right (W) and follow the corridor into Chamber A. >Chamber A contains: >2 Acid Slimes, 2-3 Acid Slimes (Drop Anti-Venom) >1-2 Blood Slimes (Drop Hpotions) >Find: Torch, NE corner. Walk directly across the room to the corridor in the W wall and follow it to the save point. SAVE. Now you can go out collecting. Enter Chamber A and take out the slimes, go back to the Torture Chamber and take those out too, Return to Chamber A. Save if you wish. In Chamber A, there are several secret 'doors'. There are 2 in the N wall, one towards the NW and one towards the NE. Go to the NE one and pass though the chamber with the mound/hole in the middle and into another short corridor. Pause at the entrance to the corpse/armor room you saw earlier. Then walk into the room, over the corpse to the opposite wall. There is a Parasite in the body of the corpse that attacks as soon as you enter. Just stand to the side of it and take it out. It drops Ashes when dead. Pick up the Scale Mail and return to Chamber A. Now go to the SE wall and open that secret door. You will follow the short corridor into a room with 2 Acid Slimes and a Fanged Worm that comes out of the hole in the middle of the floor. >Fanged Worm Room contains: >2 Acid Slimes (Drop Anti-Venoms) >Fanged Worm (Drop Rapier) >Find: Hpotion, Soul Pod +5 Move to the far side of the room and take out the Fanged Worm first, then finish off the slimes. Then drop down the hole. Follow the corridor around until you see a doorway on the left. This is a 'treasure' room/hoard containing 3 Hpotions and 1 Ashes. Take them and follow the path back to Chamber A. Now go to the NW and open the secret door there. This corridor will lead to a Side Room (f) and the 'Casket' Room. >Side Room (F) contains: >1 Casket (Drops Torch) >Find: Metal Gloves, Soul Pod +5 The Casket fades in and out and drains HP. Time your strike to coincide with when it becomes solid. >Casket Room contains: >1-2 Caskets (Drops Torch, Short Sword) >1-2 Blood Slimes (Drops Poison Vaccine) >Find: Large Shield, Torch, Cune Simple instructions - clear the room and leave. From here, return to Chamber A and take the E doorway. Keep heading E and S until you come to the path to the WARP point. Continue E from here to the door back to the Solitary Region if you haven't taken out the 2 Skeletons mentioned earlier. Otherwise, go to the WARP point and press 'X' to go to the Forgotten Region. -------------------------------------- HW - Forgotten Region -------------------------------------- You WARP in facing North. WARP ROOM 1 As soon as you appear here, turn left and look down to pick up a Cune. Proceed N to the main corridor. Immediately to your left is one exit to SHADOW TOWER and back up into the prior HUMAN WORLDs so use this later. If you turn right (East) you will see the main corridor and a shaft that branches off to the North. That branch leads to a point that you will be able to WARP INTO this region later, but you cannot get to it because it is up above the corridor and you have to drop down into this area from that WARP point. For now, proceed down the corridor to the E. You will not encounter any creatures in the corridor AT THIS TIME. The main corridor turns N after you pass 2 locked jail cells on your right. Follow it N all the way to the end (you will pass many locked jail cells) where it makes a right angle turn to the left (W). The first branch you come to on the left lead to an Hpotion trader, the next branch you come to leads to the SAVE point for this level. USE IT. The corridor continues to another door to SHADOW TOWER and the Cursed Region. Use this after you finish this level. Now go back down the main corridor to the right angle turn (now turning South) and face the North Wall. Press X to open the secret door here and watch the corpse fall. You may obtain the Acid Vaccine prior to opening the secret door or after. Now turn S and go to the first corridor branching off to the right after you pass another locked cell. Open the secret door at the end of the corridor and walk up to one of the 2 chests at the far end of the room. >The Skeleton/Chest Room contains: >2 Skeletons (Drop Cune, Crown or Crown of Resistance) >Find: Soul Pod +5 in NW chest. As soon as you open one of the chests, 2 Skeletons appear behind you. Take them out. Then the way is clear. Exit the room and head back S down the Main Corridor to the E-W section you came from. Turn W and walk to the edge of the 'Body-Chute' (you'll see what I mean. As soon as you reach this point, a Skeleton appears behind you in the corridor. Turn around and take him out. He can drop a Cune or the Steel Boots of Resistance. Go back to the Body-Chute and prepare to enter it. Stay to the side of this room at all times. I recommend making your way along the N wall to the E entry into the Blood Skull room. There is a Soul Pod +5 in the short entry to this room. >The Blood Skull Room contains: >2-6 Blood Skulls (Drop Anti-Paralytic, Bottle of Light, Small Shield, Rapier or Lethal Rapier, Guardian Bastard Sword.) >Find: Bottle of Light, SW corner. Take out the creatures and then return to the 'Chute room. In the middle of the S wall is a secret door. Prior to entry, I recommend using an Acid Vaccine. >The Great Shield Room contains: >1 Acid Skull (Drop Anti-Venom) >1 Blood Skull (Drop Anti-Paralytic) >Find: Great Shield, SE corner. Attack carefully because of the narrowness of this room. Gather the items and return to the Main Corridor while the Vaccine is still in effect. Go almost all the way back to the corridor on the S wall just before the WARP room you entered in. Down this corridor you will find rooms with several Acid Skulls. >Acid Skull Room contains: >2-3 Acid Skulls (Drop Anti-Venoms, Leather Boots) >Find: Nothing. After finishing off the 'Skulls, then go into the next chamber. >The Jail Keepers Bedroom contains: >1 Acid Skull (Drop Anti-Venom) >Find: Hpotion, SW corner & Brass Key behind bed. After dispatching the 'Skull, THEN gather the objects BEFORE you search the corpse on the bed. All that will do is push him off of it and you gain nothing else. It also triggers the appearance of a Skeleton out in the Main Corridor to the W. Go out and take out the Skeleton. Now go though the Corridor and open the jail doors. In the jail cell next to the Acid Skull Room contains a Blood Skull that never dropped anything. In the cell next to this one you will see a Skeleton appear as soon as you use the key to open it. It did not drop anything for me. In the N-S part of the Main Corridor, there is a Cune in the SW cell and an Hpotion in the cell second one down from the 'dropping corpse' secret door. Having finished all this, it is time to go to the next Region. Go to the far NW door and exit into the Tower itself. I recommend you turn right and follow the path around the inside of the tower and then enter the next door to the Cursed Region. -------------------------------------- HW - Cursed Region -------------------------------------- You enter facing North. The room immediately on your right contains the closest thing to a boss in the HUMAN REALM, so turn left instead. Go through the door and past the 2 Dark Spiders >Cavern A contains: >2 Dark Spiders (Drop Poison Vaccine) >Find: Leather Gloves, NW corner Go through the door in the W and into an odd shaped cavern that I will call Cavern B. Follow it W, then N, then back E into a corridor with a low ceiling that leads to the Save Point. Save. Go back into Cavern B. >Cavern B contains: >3-5 Dark Spiders (Drop Ashes, Hard Boots, Hpotion,) >1 Shadow Spiders (Drop Mpotion) (use Darkness attacks) >Find: Nothing Go through the door in the SW corner down into the Tongue Imp Cavern. >Tongue Imp Cavern contains: >2 Tongue Imps (Drop Buckler) (Drain HP) >2-5 Dark Spiders (Drop Ashes) >Find: Axe (SE corner) Go to the door in the S wall. This leads to the drop-down area from the Solitary Region. There is a Cune to pick up on the floor. Then return to the Tongue Imp Cavern. Go to the NW area and a small corridor appears to the N. Follow it into another small chamber with another 2 Tongue Imps and a Fat Mole. >Fat Mole Room contains: >2 Tongue Imps (Drop Short Sword, Normal- or Magical-Leather Armor) (Drain HP) >Fat Mole (leaves a Cune) >Find: Nothing After taking out the 2 T-Imps, TALK to the mole a total of 4 times. You will see this little feller again and it pays off trying to be nice to him. Now return to the Tongue Imp Cavern and go to the E wall corridor and walk to where the corpse is laying in front of the rock-door. There is writing on the S wall just before you arrive there. Open the rock-door and pick-up the following items: >Rock-Door Room contains: >Find: Helm, Ashes, 2 Hpotions Now go all the way back to the Inner Tower entry point, stopping by the Save Point to save, and enter the Guardian Room that I told you to bypass. >Guardian Room contains: >2 Shadow Spiders (Drop Mpotion, Sacred Feather) (Darkness attack) >1 Guardian Skeleton (Drop Swift Morning Star) >Find: Hpotion (NW corner) Take out the first Shadow Spider before proceeding too far into the room. To get the second one, you will have to pass between 2 pillars that are part of the N & S walls. This is the 'mid-point' of the room. Go ahead and take out the next S-Spider but do not approach the mid-point of the room while or after you are dispatching it. If you do, the Guardian will become mobile and attack. That is how to start the battle with the Guardian, who is hanging on the far E wall/altar, simply move past the mid-point and then go back and fight it. When finished, go back out to the Inner Tower and proceed to the next WORLD/Region by walking back around to near the door to the Forgotten Region and walking off the edge of the path that hangs over the middle of the Inner Tower. You will land on a walkway and be facing the portion that goes up to the other door to the Forgotten Realm. Turn around and go straight down the steps to the door that leads to the first EARTH WORLD Region. ************************************** EARTH WORLD ************************************** In these Realms, I will keep things pretty concise except in specific need. -------------------------------------- EW - Rotting Cave -------------------------------------- You enter facing N. Follow the corridor around into the Watcher Plant Room. >The Watcher Plant Room contains: >4-6 Watcher Plants (Hpotions, Steel Boots) >1 Elder (Drops Anti-Venom) (can Paralyze if looking in your general direction) >Find: Broad Sword (NW corner) These plants shoot lasers at you. As you fight them try to make your way from the SE corner up to the NE corner and towards the NW corner where the Broad Sword can be found. Equip this immediately and chop down the Elder who is standing in the middle of the regular exit in the W wall. Go find the corridor in the south wall and enter it. This takes you to the first ITEM (Smithy) stone. ******** SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: ITEM Stones ******** These instructions are intended to maximize the use of all your HP's and minimize using Hpotions unnecessarily. Translation: It helps you efficiently repair your equipment. The amount of hit points you have is totally dependent on your strength. Some of the equipment you have (including some rings, bracelets and amulets) increases your strength. Prior to using the Smithy, ALWAYS equip yourself with the items that MAX out your strength and thereby your HP too. But DO NOT use an Hpotion yet!!!!! After you have maxed out your HP's, then make the first visit to the Smithy and have him repair as many items as you can with your remaining HP's. Some items may remain un-repaired when you run out. That's OK. Leave the Smithy by hitting O and then use an Hpotion to max out your HP's. Then turn around and visit the Smithy again to repair the rest of your items. Do this until all the items you want repaired are up to full durability rating. Leave the Smithy. Do this at all Smithy locations. ******************************************************* Now re-equip yourself to proceed on. There is a secret door to the S of the corridor in the W wall, but do not take it right now. Follow this corridor around into a Long Chamber with barrels in it. Go to the complete on and find an Hpotion. There is nothing else to find so proceed to the W wall to the door there. There is a door in the NW wall but go through the W one first. This corridor winds around and into another room with Elders and Dwarves in it. >The Elder/Dwarf Room contains: >2 Elders (N wall and S wall)(Drop Anti-Venom) >1 Minor Dwarf (Drop Hpotion) >1-3 Dwarflings (Drop Cune) >Find: Nothing Move to the N wall and take out the Elder. As soon as you do, you will hear small footsteps. One of the dwarfs will have appeared. If any of these hit you, you WILL be poisoned, so avoid being hit. When you finish them off, go to the N wall and follow the corridor there around to the Dwarfling. TALK to him and he will give you the Iron Key to open a door. Return to the Elder/Dwarf Room and proceed to the S wall by way of the SW corner so as not to get paralyzed and take out the other Elder. Enter the corridor in the S wall and find the Save point and the Mpotion trader. Return to the Long Chamber and go through the N door, following the corridor to another door. This door opens into a large chamber I call the Imp Chamber. 4-5 Imps (Drop Rings-Protection, Poison) >1 Star Serpent (Drop Large Shield) >Find: Hpotion (SE corner - the map is wrong) The Imps cast sonic attacks so move up to their side and hit them. Obviously, you will want to try and get the rings. They may all drop rings for all I know, I just recall getting only the 2 mentioned. Once you get them, return to the Smithy and repair them and the rest of your equipment. Once done repairing, equip the rings AND equip their magic. Then move into the Watcher Plant Room, move to the secret door in the W wall and enter it. Follow the corridor into the Myconid Room. >The Myconid Room contains: >2-3 Myconids (Mushroom Men) (Drop Anti-Venom, Leather Gloves) Casts Poison >Find: Poison Vaccine in broken barrel If you stand close to the Myconid too long, you will become poisoned. (Remember the Shrooms in the KF series?) Otherwise, they attack with a spore attack that spreads out around them. Use a combination of a physical attack to stun them, then a magic attack to stun them, then a physical, then a magic, etc. By timing this right, you will be able to stand almost toe-to- toe with most opponents and never get hit. Watch for the telltale red 'X' that indicates your equipment is getting low in durability, a common occurrence when using rings/magic. You can now go down the W corridor to the secret door into the Elder/Dwarf room to save. Go back to the Imp Chamber and to the short corridor leading to a locked door. Use the Iron Key obtained earlier to open it. You will hear the Imp you must take out. This room is VERY important. >The Doll Auriel Room contains: >1 Imp (Drop Summon Ring of Frost) >1 Doll Auriel (TALK TO HER) >Find: Anti-Venom (SE corner) The Doll Auriel is actually a Demoness in dis-dress (pun intended). After taking out the Imp, talk to her and you will learn of a B-tard named Duhrin who imprisoned her in this form. After a few words, she will squat down and become unresponsive. Now go search the S wall for the secret door that leads into the Star Serpent Chamber. >Star Serpent Chamber contains: >1-2 Star Serpents (Drop Bracelets-Balance, Resistance) >Find: Anti-Venom (Behind Torch) Take them out and go back to the Smithy to repair your equipment. Return to the Imp Chamber. Go to the NE portion of the N wall and proceed N down the corridor. You will start to hear a 'grunting' sound. The corridor comes to a T running WE. This corridor has several Tondroms that attack you. >Tondrom Corridors contain: >3-4 Tondroms (Drop nothing) The way to take out the Tondroms is to hug the corridor wall they are closest to and let them get hung up and immobile so you can approach them and smash them. If you give them a straight shot at you it will HURT. Many times. Death will come very quickly. Get the drift? (pun intended) Proceed to the W and into the Barrel Snail Room. >The Barrel Snail Room contains: >2 Barrel Snails (Drop Anti-Venom) >Elder (Drops Plate Armor) (Submitted by GUN46) >Find: Soul Pod +5 Go back into the corridor, take out any more Tondroms you encounter, follow it until it turns at a right angle to the S. The next room you enter I call The Elders Haven. >Elders Haven contains: >3 Elders (Drop Divine Symbol x2, Crown of Resistance) >Find: nothing The elder that will appear close to the torch on the E wall will drop the Crown of Resistance. This is a potent item that improves you magic abilities greatly. A great find early in the game. You may have to come back through to get this item. When done, go N and follow the corridor to the drop back into the Watcher Plant room. Go to the Smithy and repair your equipment. You do not need to save but can if you want. Then exit out the way you came in to this Realm and walk around the inside of the Inner Tower to the next door leading to the EARTH WORLD Poisonous Cavern. -------------------------------------- EW - Poisonous Cavern -------------------------------------- This became one of my favorite Realms just because it gave up many very useful items. Follow the corridor to the first room and in the S is a save point. See? I told you that you didn't need to save. Then enter the Beak Plant Chamber. >The Beak Plant Chamber contains: >2-3 Watcher Plants (Drop Cune) >1-2 Beak Plants (Drop Crushing Mace, Hpotions) >Find: Torch, SE corner The barking noise is the Beak Plants sounding off. When you hear this, you will be Slowed. They are located in the SW corner and one along the middle of the S wall. When you are done, go to the door on the W wall in the NW corner. Open it and you will start a mini-action sequence. A voice tells you not to go that way because of the poison (the green stuff on the floor of the corridor behind the door) and to come this way. You are turned around and get your first look at Duhrin the Dwarf. He walks into the N corridor telling you to come this way. Go to the locked door at the end of the corridor, try to open it and you are called a fool. Quickly move away from the door or the Watcher Plant on the other side will burn you. Now go to the W wall door again. **Strategy Tip. -- Take off your boots and walk barefoot. The poison can cause damage to some of your footwear. But if you take the Poison Vaccine before proceeding, then you will be totally protected from the effects of poison. Also, equip the Crushing Mace. It will be the most effective weapon against the coming creatures. I also recommend not picking up any items until later. Just trust me on this one. Remember to use a Poison Vaccine prior to entry here. Open the door and follow the corridor around the bend and another. As you come out into a cavern, stop and look up. A strange figure will appear. There are actually 3 of them here. >Hanging Dead Room contains: >3 Hanging Dead (Drop nothing) >Find: Hpotion (S wall) These creatures drip poison and are the reason there is poison on the floor. Of course, the other three in the next area help also. You should be able to take these guys out with one swing each. Once done, exit through the W wall and turn N. >Overpass Room contains: >3 Hanging Dead (Drop Poison Ring) (Upper) >1 Watcher Plant (Drop Hpotion) (Lower) >Find: Shield of Resistance (SW, Upper) Move immediately to the Watcher Plant and take it out. Then keep moving N but cross to the W wall. Pass under the Overpass and you will see a ladder. Go up it by moving forward towards it. You will automatically climb it. If you do all this fast enough, the Poison Vaccine should run out right about now. Put on your boots and get ready for combat. Head S from here past the wooden Overpass and to the SW corner. Pick up the Shield of Resistance. Now move to the entry into the W room. >Wingsect Room contains: >2 Watcher Plants (Drop Cune) >3 Wingsects (Drop-in order of appearance (IOOA): 1-nothing, 2-Bow, 3-Soul Ring) The 'bark' of the Wingsect drains MP. Stay to the side of them and take them out. Now go to the N wall and find the secret door. >Secret Wingsect Room contains: >2 Wingsects (Drop-IOOA: 1-Crushing Broad Sword, 2-Magical Amulet Now go out of these 2 rooms and onto the wooden Overpass. Look to the N and you will see 1 of 3 Hanging Dead. Use the Bow to take it out. Do the same on the 2 to the S of the Overpass. The one closest to the Overpass can drop the Poison Ring. If you no wait for about 60-90 seconds, you will se the poison on the floor below disappear and allow you to go collect those things I told you not to pick up. You can also go back and save if you wish. Continuing on from the Overpass, head to the E and you will come to another Overpass situation, this one guarded by a Trickster above and Dwarven Warriors below. >The Trickster Overpass contains: >2-4 Tricksters (Drop Bracelet of Recovery) >3-5 Dwarf Warriors (Drop Magical Leather Armor, Torches) >Find: Soul Pod +5 (Above), Cune (Below) Take out the Trickster and drop down to take out the Dwarves. Then equip your worst sword (like a short sword) and head N to observe the Knight holding up the rock. He asks for your help. After he asks, turn W and face the Stone Head on the wall. Walk up and press X. The head proceeds to eat your sword. The rock then disappears and the knight thanks you before dying off. Step into the next area and look in the SW corner for a Soul Pod +5. Go no further for now. Head back to the Overpass area and head down the wide stone corridor into Duhrin's Chamber. >Duhrin's Chamber contains: >Duhrin (Drops Spirit Key) >2 Beak Plants (Drop nothing) >2 Watcher Plants (Drop Cune) >Find: Hpotion Duhrin now pleads for you to be nice to him. Problem is, you NEED that Key he is carrying. And you did promise Auriel.... So, finish him off. You will have to chase him a little but he does not fight back. There is a secret door in the N wall containing a room with another Watcher Plant that drops a Poison Vaccine. The corridor leading off Duhrin's Chamber to the SE contains a CUNE SHOP. The corridor leading off the NE curves around into a chamber with a glass coffin in it. >Demon Auriel's Bedroom contains: >Demon Auriel (Gives Summoner Ring of Fire) >Find: Hpotion (W wall) Use the key in the keyhole above Auriel's Sarcophagus and she will reward you. Go back to Duhrin's Chamber and exit through the previously locked S door, now permanently unlocked and go save. Return to the Save point, save and prepare to enter the Quaking Cavern. -------------------------------------- EW - Quaking Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter Facing South. The first chamber you enter is full of Blue Flickers that also shoot lasers at you and small Sand Leeches that shoot clouds of poison gas at you. Immediately to the left of you in the corner is a pool with some Wooden Gloves in it. >Main Chamber contains: >4-6 Blue Flickers (Drop Lamps, Poison Vaccine) >2-4 Sand Leeches (Drop Cunes) >Find: Wooden Glove (NE Corner, in water) The Blue Flickers have three tentacles, only one of which shoots at you. Keep to the side of the creature when attacking, but watch for the little Sand Leeches on the floor. They have a tendency to sneak up on you. The small chamber in the W wall contains one Sand Leech. It never dropped anything for me. Go to the corridor leading into the SW wall and follow it until it branches straight ahead and to the right (N). At this point, each of the three tunnels becomes filled with a very large Sand Leech, each one fills it's own corridor. They are all mouth and teeth and will poison you if they hit you. Stand a small distance away from the one you choose to attack and wait for it to try to bite you. Immediately move towards it, timing your swing to land when you get right next to it, then back off immediately. This can be tricky, because the floor here is somewhat irregular. What looks like a perfectly straight shot will sometimes be a clean miss. Then it's time for an Anti-Venom to take away the green tint that was just added to the screen. Each of these can drop a Cune. Take the corridor that leads N and into the Acid Pod room. >Acid Pod Room contains: >2-4 Acid Pods (Drop Ashes) These guys bounce around randomly and continuously spit acid at you. Keep moving and try to flank them to take them out. You will also find these in the room to the W in addition to some other creatures too. >Kiljoy Room contains: >3 Kiljoys (Drop Soul Ring, Bracelet of Resistance) >2-3 Acid Pods (Drop Ashes) >Find: Anti-Venom, NW corner The Kiljoy is a quick opponent. Keep moving and use the magic and sword combo to take them out. Return back to the Sand Leech Corridors and take the W one into a new area. There is nothing to neither encounter nor find here, so take the South East corridor down into the next area. The Cocoon Plants here are VERY susceptible to fire. >Cocoon Plant Chamber contains: >4 Cocoon Plants (Drop Anti-Venom) >1 Torg (After entering the Torg room and leaving it) >Find: Anti-Venom, NE corner Simply use the fire spells and a slashing attack to take these creatures out. They do not pivot, so moving behind them to avoid their attacks is easy. Now go into the S room and you will find writing on the S wall and an ITEM/Smithy stone! Repair your equipment and get ready to die REAL quick. Now go to the door in the W wall of the Cocoon Plant Room. >Torg Room contains: >2 Torgs (Drop Lamp, Broadsword) >Find: 3 Cunes, 3 Dust of Rage, Large Shield of Balance As you approach you will hear the grunting of the Torgs. Speed is essential here, as well as magic and strength. They have clubs and like to hit the ground with them, causing Loma-Prieta level seismic occurrences that drain you of HP BIG time, even on this side of the door. Try to get into the room ASAP and fire off a spell like the Frozen Hornet spell that has multiple hits. Use the Magic/Physical attack combo repeatedly until one of them falls and then take out the other one. When done in here, there is another that has appeared outside in the Cocoon Plant Room to take out. Congratulations. That is the end of this region. Return to the door to the Poisoned Cavern after repairing your badly damaged armor and equipment. -------------------------------------- EW - Poisonous Cavern (Brief return) -------------------------------------- Once back in here, you will have to go all the way back around to the ladder area and head North to the door to Stone Cavern. -------------------------------------- EW - Stone Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter this area facing South. Warning. This Region has 3 levels. Once you drop down into the main cavern (level 2), you will need to finish it before dropping down to the third level. Getting back here is a pain and a long walk. The following directions will take you the short way to the Save point on this level prior to killing anything (hopefully). Level One. This N-S corridor has a HP trader down the first E shaft. Head S then W and drop down the hole in the floor. Level Two (Main Level) Well, that was fast, wasn't it? In this room, there is a Cune in the SE Corner. Follow the rails N to a W corridor. At the N-S 'T' intersection, you will encounter a Sloth Bug to the N. Leave it be and head S. You will head some low voice chanting soon and find a W corridor intersecting it where you will find a Clay Servant chanting and another Sloth Bug. Try to get past the Sloth Bug if you can but do not get close to the Clay Servant if at all possible. This will 'activate' him and between the two you will likely die. Continue W past the S dead end corridor and you will meet (for the first time) the Dybbuk, busy digging a hole. He tells you that you are wasting your time then drops down the hole. Avoid the hole but walk past it and turn N. Walk up to the second corridor on the left and Save your game. Now to venture out into the Cavern. Head S down the corridor to the W corridor that you passed a moment ago. This is at a 4-way intersection. Enter the first of 2 rooms. There is nothing in the first so go to the S and enter the Hobble Worm Room. >Hobble Worm Room contains: >1-3 Hobble Worms (Drop nothing) >Find: Bottle of Light (in chest) Hobble worms are pretty easy so once you take out those who appear here, go to the E wall just S of the protruding rock at foot level and open the secret door. >Secret Worm Room contains: >3 Hobble Worms (Drop Hpotion, Giant Axe) >Find: nothing After finishing them off, return back to the 4-way intersection and walk back the original way you came in. Go back to the area with the Sloth Bug and Clay Servant. Now take them out one at a time. Watch the Sloth Bug for spraying poison at you. The Clay Servant will stand at your approach, orient towards you and then slide and slam into you. I recommend the Magic/Physical attack combo again and to keep moving. They did not drop anything for me. Head N and take out the other Sloth Bug. This one did drop the Divine Symbol (for curing Curse). Head all the way N and the Dybbuk will appear again and cause a cave in blocking your path. Head S to the only side corridor in the W wall of this N-S corridor. This Leads to the Clay Servant Room. >Clay Servant Room contains: >3 Clay Servants (Drop Bastard Sword, Bracelet of Movement) >2 Sloth Bugs (Drop Harden Leg Guards, Scale Mail) >Find: Hpotion Approach the CS's one at a time and finish it off prior to challenging another one. Take on the SB's when you can without getting too close to a CS. When done, head to the N exit, then W, S, and W and voila', you are back at the 4 way intersection. Go and save and come back here. Then head back E, then N all the way to the end to the rails, the E to a new room. >Demon Bat Room contains: >3 Demon Bats (Drop Long Sword, Fiery Long Sword) >Find: Bottle of Light (in chest) Yep. These are the bigger cousins of those same 2 on the Solitary Region of the HUMAN WORLD. Once you have finished here, enter the E tunnel to the Blue Crystals in the floor. Search them and find the (surprise!) Blue Crystal. From here, go back and save and then proceed to the hole the Dybbuk dug for you and drop down to Level Three. Level Three The big chamber to the E is the way out, but you need to go W and then N for now. Head to the chamber in the far N of the corridor and encounter the Crying Roots. >Crying Roots Room contains: >3 Crying Roots (Drop- Sacred Feather x3) >Find: Bottle of Light, Cune (NW corner - the map is wrong) You have to swing at these creatures to 'activate' them, and then you can chop the roots up. Now head down into the E passage leading to the Dybbuk Room. >Dybbuk Room contains: >1 Dybbuk (Drop Caustic Ring) >Find: Hpotion The Dybbuk is VERY apologetic for being so rude and will cry MURDER when you try to take the ring from him. He moves around like Duhrin did so just follow him and obtain your prize, the Caustic Ring. Now head back to the drop down point, enter the large chamber to the E and the S to the exit from this Region and into the False Pit Cavern. -------------------------------------- EW - False Pit Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter this area facing South. Move into the main cavern here to encounter an Earth Knight. >Main Cavern contains: >2 Earth Knights (Drop Harden Large Shield) >2 Acid Pods (Drop Hpotion) >Find: Cune SE corner This E-W chamber has several key locations immediately branching off. Before you fight the Knights, turn right (W) and immediately enter the next passageway running to the N. There is a SAVE point here. And above the SAVE point is an opening that is inaccessible to you, leading to a WARP point from the Hostile Rock Cavern (Boss - Throne Room) one Region down. Back into the cavern to fight the Knights. Use the Magic/Attack combo to keep them stunned enough to never hit you. They are fast and will do good damage. When finished with them, look to the S at the two passageways in the S wall. The W one leads to a WARP point that will take you back to the HUMAN REALM Forgotten Region to the WARP point you could not access before because it was on a slightly higher level than you could access back then. This is the way back from the lower Regions to the higher ones. The nice thing is that there is a Door in the corridor paralleling this one to the E with a Door into the Shadow Tower and the Lowest Regions. And it will remain accessible. Now head W and prepare to encounter many Acid Pods in the corridors. They will mainly Drop Hpotions. The twists and bends make it easy for them to attack you with acid balls and hard for you to approach without getting hit. So take an Acid Vaccine prior to entering the corridor. Equip the Caustic Shield if you have it. Or you can just rely on the vaccine as your defense and un-equip all items so as to spare them the acid baths you will be going through. The first one will appear after you turn S, in the curve in the corridor. But don't worry, you will hear it long before you see or feel it. Do not try to use the Bow because the angle will prevent it from hitting. While working on the first 'Pod, another will appear in the corridor to the NW of it and add to the acid bath you will probably be in. Use the Forward/Hit/Back off tactic to finish off the first pod or the Magic/Physical hit tactic. Either can be effective. The Bow and long-range spells do well against the second one. Going forward (N), by pass the two side passages on the left (W) and follow the corridor N and then E. Another 'Pod will appear prior to an intersection Going N. In that Corridor is another 'Pod that will Drop an Ashes. There are 2 more on the floor to find. Go back to the main corridor and head E. This will turn N and leads to the Fire Tower room. >Fire Tower room contains: >2 Cannon Snails (Drop Fiery Gauntlet, Caustic Steel Boots) >Find: nothing After dispatching the snails, read the plaque on the N wall and then examine the Tower in the middle of the room. You will notice a slot near the bottom. Place the recently acquired Blue Stone into the slot and watch the room change color as the flame turns blue. Remember this room because you will be returning here, but by a different route. Go all the way back to the area where you first encountered the second 'pod and the 2 W corridors that you did not take. Follow it around to the far W corridor, ignoring the corridor that heads to the N, which leads to a ledge over an open cavern with a Cune on it. Walk out to the end of the path, turn around and slowly backup until you start falling. Press the forward direction key on the d-pad as you fall to land safely on the ledge directly below you. You are now facing East. Follow the corridor until you come N side corridor that will take you to a room with Acid Pods (yep, again!). >Acid Pod room contains: >2 Acid Pods (Drop Anti-Venoms or Hpotions) >Find: Soul Pod +14, Tower Shield of Honor The best way to take these 'Pods out is with long range attacks. Return to the main corridor, travel E and take the first right (S). DO NOT go to the end of the corridor yet! This is the Ray Plant room. >Ray Plant room contains: >2 Acid Pods (Drop Hpotion) >1 Ray Plant (Drop Deadly Amulet) >Find: Hpotion, Mpotion, Cune, Soul Pod +14 x2 Again ranged attacks are best. Target the Ray Plant (on the pedestal) last. Pick up everything and return to the end of the corridor, where you will be teleported to the Blue Flame room. Go back and save your game. As you pass through the corridors, you will encounter several more Acid Pods, all close to the same spots you encountered them before. You will also encounter one in the Main Cavern. Now you are ready for the Pit Overpass. Head back into the hallways on a NW course. When you come to the second pathway on the left, take it and immediately turn right (N). This will take you to the Pit Overpass. At the point you exit the tunnel and come out into the open with the stone path in front of you, you will encounter the first creatures barring your way. >Pit Overpass contains: >2 Guardians (Floating Skeletons) (Drop Cunes) >4 Sloth Bugs (Drop Hpotion, Caustic Hand Guard) >Find: Tower Shield The Guardians drop Cunes, so to get the Cunes, make sure they are hovering over the path when they die. Use Spirit Magic on them and crushing attacks. Then proceed up the path. I recommend the bow as the best way to take out the Bugs. But again, try to take them out when they are in the middle of the path. Either the things they drop fall over the edge or you may make a mis- step and plummet to your death, all to get an Hpotion. When you go under the Overpass, then take a sharp right, you will see another Bug ahead. Be careful on this portion of the path because if you stop and try to stand still, you may find yourself sliding over the edge. The path is steep and slick. Watch your footing. After you complete the Overpass, you are rewarded with a door to a new Realm contain the first real Boss of the game. -------------------------------------- EW - Hostile Rock Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter this area facing North. Follow the corridor into the main chamber. There are only 2 chambers to this level so this is going to be a battleground of sorts. Moving into the main cavern here will bring you face to face with 2 more Earth Knights. >Main Cavern contains: >2 Earth Knights (Drop-????) >8 Black Unix (Drop Hpotion, Bottle of Light) >Find: Leg Guard This entire Realm looks on the map like a squashed turtle with a very big square head as the Boss chamber. You enter at the tail. At the end of each 'leg' is a treasure chest. 2 of them are supposed to have something in them but I only found the Leg Guards in the SE chest, nothing in the NW one. If you find something in that chest, let me know what it was. The floor of this Main Cavern has rocks that look like teeth sticking up. Upon entry, you will have the 2 Knights to deal with and then the Black Unix's appear further in and shoot pinks beams at you. They fly but constantly get hung up on the teeth, so use that to your advantage. Their beams do not pass through the teeth either. But they are tough to damage. Use the Magic/Physical tactic on them and keep moving. Killing one usually causes another to appear at a bad angle to you, like behind you or to the side and back a bit. Mop them up, get your best armor on and a sword like the two-handed great swords (meaning no shield) and equip things that increase your movement rate. For rings, I found the Frost and the Poison spells worked best. Also, be ready to use the Anti-Paralysis item quickly. Now head W and enter the Chamber of Apollos. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOSS FIGHT - APOLLOS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Apollos was a knight of the king that was betrayed and then modified to be the walking nightmare in front of you. You will also have to contend with at least one other Earth Knight, but you should be able to take it/them down quickly. USE YOUR RINGS to full advantage here to eliminate them so you can concentrate on Apollos. Besides, it really is a short trip back to the smithy from here, believe me. >Apollos Chamber contains: >1-2 Earth Knights (Drop-????) >1 Apollos (Drop Great Sword) >Find: Plate Mail of Curing, Spirit Book, Soul Pod +5 Depending on how many Knights you encounter determines your strategy. Apollos has a sword in one hand, his other hand is a long tentacle that hits HARD, and he can paralyze you. Add the two knights and you can have a real Knightmare on your hands. (Pun intended) I recommend taking out the knights first, keeping in constant motion and as far away from Apollos as possible. Not easy because big A is a fast mover. Use the Hit/Spell/Hit/Spell/Hit type of maneuver. Now move to the side of big A and use the same type of maneuver. He may try to paralyze you. As SOON as the screen flashes you are paralyzed, immediately hit the select button to go to menu selection. If you time it right, it will allow you use the Anti-Paralysis item and keep pounding away on him. Keep moving and he should go down pretty fast. You gain his thanks, a new sword, some new items and a WARP Stone back to the False Pit Cavern overlooking the Save Stone. When done, go ahead and save. From the Save stone, head due S to the WARP stone that leads to the Forgotten Region of the HUMAN WORLD level. From there, drop down, turn right, drop down again and head outside into the Tower and enter the door leading to the EARTH WORLD Rotting Cave where the smithy is. Fix yourself up and head back down to where the False Pit Cavern is. Save your game. Exit into the Tower through the SE corridor right next to the WARP stone you just took a few moments ago and head to the only other door you can enter that looks reddish in color. This is door #1 to the FIRE WORLD. ************************************** FIRE WORLD ************************************** In these Realms, Flame rules. As you will notice, you do not have a lot of fire insurance right now. You will pick up a piece here and there. This is one of the things I like about this game. You do not gain items that help you in the level(s) prior, you gain them as you go along. Of course the opponents are tougher and your equipments durability rating is going to suffer from the fireballs you get hit with (and you WILL get hit with many). But an adventurer's life is never supposed to be dull. Get ready. You are now about to enter the Phoenix Cave. -------------------------------------- FW - Phoenix Cave -------------------------------------- On the map, this place somewhat resembles a basketball court to a limited extent. It is hard to name the specific sections/areas in this Realm, so I will arbitrarily name each area separated by an archway or bridge by a name like Area A, Area B, etc. Therefore, this section of the walkthrough will look and read differently than the others. It will be more step-by-step in most places. You enter this area facing East. You are in the SW corner of the Cave. This is Area A. To your left you can see a lava river heading E. You can actually walk over this river (and survive!) but not without losing a great deal of your HP. From this start point, straight ahead (E) is an archway. Prior to going through it, pick up the Fiery Large Shield in the SE corner. Equip it; you WILL need it, very soon. After going through the archway into Area B look to the right to find an Acid Vaccine. There is a bridge that is in the up position to the N, the lava flow forks and creates an island with a lever on it to lower this bridge and an archway to access it, and another archway to the E of you. As you approach the archway to the E, a Fire Jinn (hereafter FJ) will appear on the other side. These guys are common and carry a sword and shoot fireballs at you, even through the archways if the angle is good. Go through the archway into area C and take out the FJ. He can drop a Rapier or a Potion. Another one can appear in this area later and drop the other item. To the N is a stone bridge over the lava to Area D. which has a Cune lying on the ground in the SW corner and another Lever to drop the bridge that extends over the lava flow to the N. As SOON as you kill this FJ, another appears in Area D in the W section. It will begin shooting fireballs at you. As you move across the bridge to confront it, hit the 'X' key to move the lever. Take out this FJ (Drops an Hpotion or Fiery Long Sword), grab the Cune, enter the archway to the W into Area E, activate the lever and pickup the Fire World Stone that is on the ground. This little feller is going to come in handy, but do not use it just yet. Go back to Area D, cross the N bridge into Area F and take out the FJ (if he appeared; he didn't always appear each time I played through). He Drops an Hpotion. In this area you will find 2 Cunes and an Ashes* in the SW corner near the lava. This* is shown on the map as being in the next area. The map is wrong for the American Version. Head through the archway in the E wall into Area G and encounter a new opponent. This Armored Jinn is called an Armored Jinn (hereafter AJ). Use the same tactics that help you to take out a FJ and he will go down, just a little later is all. He will Drop a Fire World Stone. Save it too. Cross the bridge to Area H and throw the Lever. Another FJ will appear in Area I across the lava and start tossing fireballs. Avoid them until the bridge is down. Then cross over and take him out. He Drops the Shadow Blade, a 'Twilight' weapon unique to the Tower, essentially a Katana. The Water World Boss can also drop this item later. The key drawback to this blade is that it puts you in darkness, limiting your sight to just a few feet in front of your face. But it does NICE damage here and now. Save it for the next area. An AJ will appear here on your way back out that did not Drop anything. Go through the archway in the E wall into Area J and take out the FJ here that Drops an Hpotion or Broad Sword. Now, there is a small island called Area K made by the 2 lava flows coming back together that has a Lever and a shimmering flame in the air on it. There is also a bridge that is up leading over to Area L. You might want to use a Fire World Stone from here but you really will not need it. Move to the switch and throw it. As soon as you do (or a moment sooner) the shimmering flame coalesces into the Jinn Lord. Use the Hit/Magic/Hit/Magic/Hit tactic with the ice Spell Frozen Hornet (Ice Balls) for maximum efficiency. He Drops a Fire World Stone or the Summoner Ring of Fire. I have you take him out now because if you do not, he will throw fire attacks that look like earthquake shockwaves that do a lot of damage quickly. Grab the Cune here and the Cune in the middle of Area J. Cross the bridge over to Area L and take out the FJ that has been tossing fireballs at you. You will find 2 Cunes on the floor and the Fiery Helm in the chest. Now, head all the way back to Area B. As you go back, you will encounter FJ's and AJ's here and there. They all seem to drop only Hpotions or Fire World Stones. For right now, the stones are the preferred item to get. Back at Area B, take a quick jaunt back into Area A and take out the FJ that should be there. Go back into Area B and across the bridge (N) into Area M. Grab the Cune here. Now prepare yourself, because there can be as many as 5 possible FJ's appear in the next Area N which is through the W archway. Watch your health meter and finish them off. They only drop Hpotions. The chest has an Amulet of Guardian. The other item indicated on the map next to the lava flow is something I have never found. If you did find something, let me know. Exit this level through the door in the W wall and back into the Tower. Follow the path along the wall to the next level. -------------------------------------- FW - Burning Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter this level facing West. Welcome to the Hothouse. This place has flames in practically EVERY room and trying to dodge the flames and opponents, without taking any damage is a real trick, babe. It is in reality virtually impossible. Or is that impassable? Whatever. So once again, getting to the save point is your best bet. And it is fortunately very close by the entrance. Head W and then turn N. >Entry Chamber contains: >5 Mystic Towers (Drop Fire World Stone, Lamps, Keenest Long Sword) >Find: nothing The save point is in the room that is due North. Try to avoid the Mystic Towers, the laser shooting creatures, and the flame spouts and get to that save point. Save your game, use the other headstone to trade for Mpotions if you need them. Now go back into the Entry chamber to engage the Towers. Your best bet is to choose one of them that is away from the other and 'dance' around it using the strafe (L1,R1) keys and the d-pad, darting in and hitting then back off and move to the side of your target. Try to watch out for the other Towers shooting at you and when possible dodge them, especially if they are closing in on you. You do not need to kill a Tower if it means getting hit by 2-3 lasers from the other Towers. Keep moving around if you wish to minimize the damage you take. Good spells to use are Ice and Acid based. The Fire World Stones do help, but try not to use them yet. You will need them to finish out the other levels, especially the Ashen Realm. Ok, finish them off and then save again. Move to the W wall and the Corridor of Flames. Get ready to be crisped a bit. Here's a hint for you. This is a good place to use your shield, especially if you have obtained one with flame resistance. Hold your shield up as you pass through this corridor to add extra protection from damage! Now if you have access to the maps, you will see there is a secret room off the N wall of this corridor. Leave it for later and come back when it is cooler in here. >Wide Stair Room contains: >3 Mystic Towers (Drop Lamp) >1 Berserker (Drop Lethal Rapier) >Find: Guardian Amulet, Gothic Shield In this room you can maneuver behind the flame spouts but often the creatures you encounter are positioned to block that path making it harder to attack them. If you encounter the Berserker before you shut off the flames, then take a Fire World Stone and wade into the flame spouts. These creatures MUST be taken down quickly. They are very fast and do hefty physical and fire damage with almost no let up. Berserkers look like the upper part of a Knight and the axle of a racecar. And they match that combination very well. Use the Frozen Hornet then hit with a good Slash attack then the Frozen Hornet again, etc. Speed is essential with these guys. And there are many of these you will have to take down. After finishing here, move W and enter another room, this time with fire shooting up from the floor in quick, random bursts in many spots. >Flame Bursts Room >3 Mystic Towers (Drop Bastard Sword, Tower Shield) >Find: nothing Take out the Towers one at a time, the same as the Entry Chamber. You now have 3 ways to go, N, W, & S. Go to the W wall first and take that corridor to a room with a Cune exchange stone. This room also has an Hpotion in it. Return to the Flame Bursts room and go to the N room. >Iron Crusher Room >4 Iron Crushers (Drop Magical Plate Mail) >Find: Fiery Plate Mail (on raised platform with archway) The Iron Crushers like to shoot iron rivets at you. Isn't that nice of them? And each one of these critters is located in a corner of the room, where they stay. So even when you fight one there is at least one other shooting at you. Constant movement is again mandatory. I recommend a smashing weapon and acid based attacks to quickly dispatch them, as well as keep circling them. The one in the SW corner dropped the Magical Plate in my game. I was never able to get any of the others to drop anything. Finish these 4 off before you go up on the platform. Avoid entering the archway and collect the Fiery Plate mail lying on the floor here. Now head out of this room saving the archway for later. Head S to the corridor out of the Flame Bursts Room. The next room you will come to is full of Berserkers, so get ready to take some damage. Stop after you enter this corridor and equip your best fire resistant and damage reducing equipment (as if you hadn't already) and magic like Frozen Hornet and Bubble Magic which can hit multiple times. These are necessary to make the Berserkers pause in their attacks giving you an opportunity for a mighty hit that will pause them again, followed by another magic attack, etc. >Berserker Room >3 Berserkers (Drop nothing) >1 Iron Crusher (Drop nothing) >Find: nothing (Kinda depressing for all the pain you are about to experience.) The same tactics explained in the Wide Stair room and just above are what you need to employ to take these guys out. The only good thing about this room is that they only come at you one at a time. There will be another realm where you encounter these guys en masse. When you finish with them, move into the room to the N and you will find yourself between 2 furnaces, which supply the flames to this level. And on the N wall there is a switch you can flip to turn off all the flames on the level. You cannot open the door to the E yet; that will come later. Now it would now be a good idea to go back to a smithy and repair all your items. Or you can wait until after you have emptied the secret room back in the Corridor of Flames. >Secret Tower Room >4 Mystic Towers (Drop Lamps) >Find: nothing Nothing really special about this room, it is just there. If you have difficulty trying to get out of the room, just tilt your view up or down and hit the X key until the door opens. I had this bug a few times. If nothing seems to work, then use a Sacred Feather to 'port to your last save point (hmmm, that is just around the corner, isn't it?). You DEFINITELY want to go to a smithy and save your game before attacking the Molten Cavern. After you ready to proceed, go back to the room with the archway and walk through it. -------------------------------------- FW - Molten Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter this level facing whichever direction you were facing when you entered the Archway on the last level, either North or South. >Molten Cavern Archway Room contains: >Find: Hpotion, 2 Anti-Venoms You find yourself on another archway platform with an Hpotion on it and stairs going down to a door. WARNING! Right outside the door is a Mystic Tower and it will attack you through the wall and door. Go around the room and pick up the Hpotion and Anti-venoms. Head through the door and take out the Tower, which is to your left (E). It will Drop an Amulet of Composure. While fighting it, you will get hit by the fire rings thrown by the Berserker behind the other door to the far E. Save him for a moment and head W up the steep stairs. At the top is another Tower that will drop a Lamp. Another one will appear here later. Follow this around to a locked door with creatures behind it. I just wanted you to see this. Go back to the room with the Berserker in it and take him out. >Molten Berserker Chamber >1 Berserker (Drop nothing) >2 Berserker (Drop nothing) - After Abraxus >1 Berserker (Drop nothing) - Returning from the Arachness Chambers >Find: nothing (Enough to irritate you, isn't it? Drop & find nothing??? Sheesh) Walk all the way to the E and then N to find the Save point and an HP trader. Now head out of this room and head S until you see the Fat Mole. He tells you some (soon to be obvious) information about someone named Abraxus then disappears. To the E of him is the Steel Servants room. Enter. >Steel Servants Room >2 Steel Servants (Drop Deadly Axe, Hpotion) >Find Shining Great Shield (in chest) The Steel Servants will not attack until attacked so bide your time. Move to their side and swing once. Usually, as soon as your strength meter is full, they are moving and can be damaged. They are susceptible to smash attacks. Head out of the room and S through the door, then W. The big guy is (guess who??) Abraxus the Red (fire breathing) Dragon. He is currently having his daily Lava bath and is dreadfully upset at being interrupted, saying something about burning your ass. No, I mean turning you to ash. Yes, that's it. You can move around him (through the Lava) to the platform if you want to, but you also have to contend with many flying, flaming Horned Skulls. Add to that, that even Ice based spells and absolutely no weapons can harm him (right now) suggests you find another way to take him out. Translation: Get a look at him, let him give his schpiel and get out of there. You will meet Fat Mole at the same place again and he basically tells you 'I told you so' then disappears again. Head all the way back to the locked door at the top of the steep stairs and run into Fat Mole (again). Only this time he is far more helpful. He opens the door as he disappears, but not before telling you that the rooms ahead contain something that will help you with Abraxus. Enter the next room. You may want to use a Fire World Stone here; your option. >Arachness Chamber #1 >2 Arachness (Drop Gauntlet, Ring of Desire) >Find: Fiery Leg Guard (in chest across the Lava) These are tough. No weapon did significant damage, no magic either. And they like to breathe fire a lot. Wait to go after the chest until as bit later. Take the other door and go to the next chamber. >Arachness Chamber #2 >3 Arachness (Drop Fire World Stone, Gothic Shield of Rage [Skull-shaped]) >Find: Soul Pod +14 across the Lava After dispatching them, move to the NW wall and pull the chain. Turn around and watch the lava stop flowing. If you stop and think about that, it's somewhat like Abraxus is taking a hot shower and you just flushed the toilet. Heh, heh, heh. If you wait here long enough or return later, the Lava will cool enough for you to cross and not take any damage. Or you can take about 200-300 HP damage with each crossing. Your choice. Now go all the way back to Abraxus and voila! he seems to be at a loss for words. It must be awfully cold Lava, the way he just stands there looking real dumb. Why, I bet if you just walked up to him and gave him a little love tap, he would just fall to pieces. >Lava Chamber >Abraxus (Drop nothing) >5 Horned Skulls (Drop nothing) >Find: Silent Sword, Soul Pod +14 The bow does work against the HS's but not too well. It would be best to use a crushing weapon and either Acid or Ice attacks on them. In the far SW area of the lava is a sword in the stone, the Silent Sword, which mutes your magic totally when equipped. No spell casting. I have been told that other creatures can drop this sword and that when the players got here, nothing was found in the stone. Oh, well. When ready, step through the archway on the platform that was behind Abraxus when you entered and step into the next realm. -------------------------------------- FW - Ashen Cavern -------------------------------------- You enter this cavern facing North. This is a boss level and it is in reality, one of the most challenging you will come across, based on your present experience, weapon/item/armor combinations and the number and abilities of the creatures you will encounter. So be sure to enter here with ALL items at full durability and lots of Hpotions. You will probably go through several. This region is a series of rock 'platforms' suspended in darkness and most are attached by walkways/bridges. >WARP Arch #1 >Find: Cune (SW, at the edge), Gauntlets (NE, If not already obtained) Grab the items and head N up the steps. WARNING!! There are 3 Berserkers ahead and begin attacking before you get to the next platform. >Berserker Platform >3 Berserkers (Drop Bottle of light, Swift Steel Boots)) >Find: nothing These guys attack en masse, meaning all at once, together. Remember that they are Fast, Strong and Magic throwers. Put on your best armor, best weapon, use a Fire World Stone, use Bubble, Frost or Acid magic. Take them down quickly, and then check your stats. To the NE of this platform is a bridge heading E. Do not take it. Meteorites will fall on it (Damaging you) and destroy the bridge. Spare yourself some unnecessary damage. Head N, up then down to the next platform. >Bone Demon Platform >3 Berserkers (Drop nothing) >2 Bone Demons (Drop Cunes) >Find: nothing The Bone Demons are fireball throwers, but crushing blows and water spells work well. The BD's are slow movers but the Beserkers are not. These creatures keep coming, so once you kill one, another will take its place. It will be like this on each platform. Finish them off, keeping a CLOSE watch on your Hpoints. Weapon/Magic/Weapon was the easiest and fastest way to take them down for me. Now make your way E down the bridge. Near the bottom stop moving. You will slowly creep down the ramp anyway. Use this time to target with ranged attacks either the Horned Skulls and/or the Zygotes in this area. Once you reach the platform itself, the Horned Skull will be only JUST within sword strike range as they fly overhead. This is good and bad. It means that they will probably not damage you. This is good. But if you try to fight them and keep moving around, with your head tilted all the way back looking up to try and hit them, you just might find the edge of the platform before you know it. This is bad. Wait until later at the ruins in the middle of this platform before you attack them. You can reach them easier from there. >Zygote Platform >3 Zygotes (Drop nothing) >2 Horned Skulls (Drop nothing) >Find: Mpotions(2), Flaming Key (at locked pedestal), Crushing Broadsword. *Special note on finding items - The map has an item here to be found that I never did. However, TTThorin@aol.com notified me that he (?) found the item and it was the Crushing Broadsword. Zygotes are the creatures that remain in one spot and have a large marble for a head. Just keep to the side of them and your sword will finish them off. However, they have friends that like to shoot magic at you from behind, so keep moving if you can. Please note the pedestal with the 'pincer' shaped ring at the top in the NE area of the platform. This is the locked pedestal containing the key you need to help you transport to the boss. How do you open it and with what? Keep going. Be sure NOT to drop down the big hole in the platform. There is no bottom to it and nothing to find down there. Except death. When finished, heal up and head E again to a long pathway to another small platform. >Small Zygote Platform >2 Zygotes (Drop Plate Mail of Protection) >Find: Priest Ring of Fire Same strategy as the last platform. Sword is all you really need. Now, be SURE to check your stats, health, Mpoints, items durability, etc. The next platform can be tough. Make sure you have a Fire World Stone going AT THE LEAST. >Cerberus Platform >2 Ruby Demons (Drop Anti-Paralysis) >4 Cerberus' (Drop Fire World Stone, Anti-Paralysis, Fiery Key, Harden Tower Shield) >Find: nothing *The map indicates the Fiery Key can be found, but it is actually dropped. Everything here breathes fire (surprise!). And casts paralysis. Take out the Ruby's first because they supply you the antidote to paralysis. Then turn your attention to the mutts at your back. They bite, growl, bark and try to stomp you down. Magic spells like Frozen Hornet work well for close encounters. Watch your health and keep swinging. Grab the key that is dropped and prepare for the Boss. You can step into the portal in the S and that will take you to the locked room in the Burning Cavern near the Berserker Room. There is an Hpotion in that room and a SMITHY stone too. I recommend first going through the once locked door and then re-enter the room. That leaves the door open and accessible for later if you need it. Then, go to the smithy to fix your equipment. You also will want to make sure you have at least one (1) Sacred Feather before approaching the Boss. Once done, drop down the shaft in the N wall and go SAVE your game, then return all the way back to the locked portal stone here in the Ashen Cavern and use the Fiery key. A compartment opens to reveal the Flaming Key. Use this key right here, right now and you will teleport to the lone platform with no bridge leading to it. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOSS FIGHT - EBONY KNIGHT ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The guy in front of you is the Ebony Knight and he is itching to pick a fight with you. Use your heftiest sword and the Frozen Hornet spell. He moves a lot and likes to cast an explosive fire spell at you when you are close to him. Fire defense is the RULE in armor and items. Keep an eye on Hpoints, especially if you are going toe to toe. He can move fast, but generally is moderate in movement if you keep near to him. If you move away for ranged attacks, he can suddenly slide right up next to you with a pretty good hit. Try dancing in and out with attacks and magic hits, reorienting on his side or flank while he recovers from the stunning hit(s). ***NOTE: I have been told that there is a creature that can appear here with Ebony Knight called the Damned Angle, but I have yet to encounter it. I do know it does make up the list of 150 creatures. I do not know why it does not want to make an appearance with my games, but that is the way it is for now. More details in another update.*** Once down, he will give you a schpiel and then Drop the Fiery Bastard Sword. There is now no reason to stay, so use the Sacred feather to return to your last save point. ****SPECIAL NOTE**** Remember the door you first entered after leaving the Phoenix cave that led to the Burning Cavern? Well, there is a walkway across the Tower from here that leads you to the next World, the WATER WORLD, Impure Pool Area. Head to that area and enter the next World. ****END OF NOTE**** ************************************** WATER WORLD ************************************** In these Realms, Water rules in the forms of Acid and Frost. The most irritating part of these regions is that acid attacks the durability of your equipped items in addition to your heath. Often, ALL of the pieces you are wearing lose durability, although it will just concentrates on the parts directly exposed to the acid. So, if you have to walk through an acid puddle, the boots will lose points of durability and you will lose Hpoints as you pass through. There are items that resist this effect, such as anything with the word Caustic in the description. But they are not PROOF against the effect. They only diminish the effect. The acid will still eat up those Caustic Boots if they are left standing in that same puddle. Of course, this effect happens only after you equip it on your character. Unequipped items are never damaged by acid attacks. There are many items to be found in the depths of the acid puddles, streams and pools coursing through these next 4 levels, in wonderful condition for something that had been taking an acid bath for months before you came along. Towards the end of these levels, acid turns to Frost as the deadly danger. I have a simple solution for moving through at least one level. Take off your boots and take an Acid Vaccine. The vaccine provides resistance to most damage from the acid puddles that you HAVE to go through and you retain your boots in good condition until you need it in battle. You will lose HP faster this way compared to when you have boots on but remember that the Acid Vaccine does NOT vaccinate the steel boots you are wearing. I went through almost all the boots I had before I figured this one out. -------------------------------------- WW - Impure Pool Area -------------------------------------- You enter facing W at the south-most entrance on the map. After the Hothouse, you may feel like taking a nice cool bath here. DON'T. The water looks inviting but it is VERY hot, but not from heating. It will scour not only the dirt from your skin, but your skin and bones with it! The path to the Save point on this level is pretty easily accessed, but you do have to encounter some creatures and walk through some acid. Fortunately, the pools of acid that you have to pass through are shallow and quickly passed through. What is interesting is several of the creatures on this level will Drop Fire World Stones. So you can come here earlier in the game and obtain these items to help you through the Fire Worlds if you want. From the entry point, take the first Left (S) into a small square room (Junction Room) with several exits and writing on the E wall. Take the S exit and follow it into a long chamber running E-W and you once again meet the Fat Mole. He chats with you and gives you an Acid Vaccine. Head to the W wall and enter into a room with a shallow acid pond running from wall to wall. >Horned Slime Room contains: >5 Horned Slimes (Drop Fire World Stone, Sacred Feathers) >Find: nothing If you can, try not to fight the HS's right now, but if you can't cross the acid pond without fighting, don't sweat it. The ones in the acid drop the feathers. When you can, take the W corridor, and then head towards the N. >Blood Brains Room >4 Blood Brains (Drop Cunes) >Find: Keenest Long Sword, Pitcher of Nadya (Chest) Stay on this side of this large pond and head to the left, taking the other corridor on this side of the pond. It leads to the Save point. There is a Cune in the NE corner of the Save point room. Now head back into the Blood Brains room and take them out. You will have to get your feet wet to obtain the Keen LS and the Pitcher, but you will be using them soon. There is a secret door in the N wall of this room that cannot be opened until you WARP into the room later in the game. This secret room has a Cune on the floor and there is also a Cune Trader found in here. Head back to the Horned Slime Room and mop them up. Head back to the Junction Room mentioned earlier and head W from that point into another long chamber running E-W. >Horned Slime Chamber contains: >3 Horned Slimes (Drop Fire World Stone, Sacred Feathers) >2 Dwellers (Drop Hpotion) >Find: nothing After finishing here, head into the W room. >Akryal Water Room contains: >Akryal (Drop: nothing) >Find: nothing Do not attack Akryal. Talk to her first and she will tell you that the water trough behind her is the ONLY fresh water in the Tower. But she needs a certain pitcher... Give her the pitcher and she will disappear, allowing you access to the water. This trough has water that acts like an Hpotion. One sip is enough. The drawback is that you cannot take any with you. Remember this spot because you may find yourself in need later and can come back here to get your HP's back up. It's a long walk sometimes, but... Now go back to the entry corridor and head W. Another E-W chamber with Dwellers in it. >Dweller Chamber >3 Dwellers (Drop Hpotions) >Find: nothing Beyond this chamber is another pond room like the Horned Slime Room, but this has much more challenging opponents. >Dementor Room >2 Dementors (Drop Metal Glove, Frosty Morning Star) >Find: nothing These 2-headed creatures are constantly moving and will keep hitting you until you drop. They can also follow you into the short corridor back towards the last chamber, but not enter it. Use a slashing attack on them if you must. Ranged weapons and magic are best to minimize stepping in acid and getting pummeled to death between the 2 of them. Take the N exit from the room and into a room with a well in the middle of it. The well is full of acid. But you must jump into it to get to the lower section of this level. So decide if you want to lose Hpoints alone or also lose durability from the items you are wearing. It will only be a few points at most but it may be a big difference to you. After passing through the acid, you will land in a dry room with no discernable exits. >Worm Face Room >2 Worm Faces (Drop Acid Vaccine) >Find: nothing Several things to be aware of. If you suddenly become cursed, realize that it is NOT the Worm Faces doing it. It is another creature in the next room behind the secret door in the E wall. If you can, endure the cursed status until you finish off the Worm Faces, then go take it out. Next, if you took off armor before you dropped through, immediately re-equip it to deal with the WF's. The WF's are easy to stun and I developed a good strategy to handle them, based on the same way I dealt with most of the prior creatures. The WF's turn with every step, so positioning yourself to the side of them is hard. So, just move up to the first one and hit it. This will probably stun it, making it pause in its movement. Immediately reposition yourself to one side and just a little distance away from it. Usually, it will immediately move towards you and 'face' you. If you wait for it, then by the time it finishes orienting on you your strength meter will have reach full power. Swing. Reorient to the side. Wait. Swing. Etc. You will want to modify this tactic with magic (NOT acid!) and other movement to keep from being damaged by the other WF in here. When finished, go to the middle of the N wall to a second secret door and open it. More WF's but also an important item to pick-up! >Floodgate Key Room >3 Worm Faces (Drop Acid Vaccine, Ashes, Frosty Bastard Sword) >Find: Floodgate Key (table) Same tactics as before. Pick-up all items and get the key off the table. You will use it on the next level. Exit this room. Now look at the floor and you will see footprints. Follow them to the E wall and open the secret door. >Hatchlin Room (Drop Balance Ring of Frost) >Find: nothing This is the creature that has a constant curse field around it. Kill it before you use a Divine Symbol to counter the curse. Now move down the long corridor and exit back out into the Tower. -------------------------------------- Interlude - In the Tower -------------------------------------- You have now reached a place in the Tower where you have options about where to go next. You can finish the WATER WORLDS or go ahead into any of the other Worlds. It starts with the path in front of you. Move forward until you have just entered the Tower Core. Stop. Picture yourself as standing at 6 o'clock looking forward to 12 o'clock. The path goes straight across to the opposite side (12:00) where the door to WW-Sunken River Area is. Branching off of this path to the left and then down some stairs (9:00 low) is the IW-Gloomy Domain. If you look down to the right from where you are (3:00 low) you will see the doorway to BW-False Eye area. You can get there by jumping from this point where you are standing down to the walkway below. Directly below you (underneath your current position) is the door to BW-Screeching Area. Look back to the BW-False Eye doorway. From there, you can cross the Tower to the 9:00 (very low) position where the DW- Dark Castle doorway is. And from there, you can walk clockwise around to 12:00 and then down some stairs to the Headstone that leads to the Void, the last level of the Tower! Right behind the Void Headstone is a balcony that can only be accessed by dropping down onto it from above that leads to the DW- Lingering Curse Layer. So you see, you can effectively go wherever you wish right now. This walkthrough will proceed through the Tower in the order of levels as they appear on the Options portion of the Menu screen. But you can do what you want. Of course, the only real problem you will encounter is that of the levels that are 1-way, like the Impure Pool Area you just left. Since you cannot climb back up the well that you dropped down, how do you get back? Maybe you should stay with this walkthrough for a while. Of course, it is your choice. -------------------------------------- WW - Sunken River Area -------------------------------------- You enter facing W and then turn immediately S into the first Cavern. >Kabasaur Cavern >3 Kabasaurs (Drop 2nd Floodgate Key, Anti-Paralytic) >Find: Soul Pod +5 As you enter a Kabasaur will appear. This tall, pale, fat version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon is slow but Strong! He will take you down in only a few hits if you give a chance. Stay to his side or behind him and use slashing attacks. He will drop the second Floodgate Key. Watch for his buddy to appear before picking the key up. Finish, and then move into the wide corridor that leads into the Deep Pool room. >Deep Pool Room >3 Kabasaurs (Drop Evil Eye, Anti-Paralytic) >4+ Water Knights (Drop Hpotion, Mpotion, Mermaid Key) >Find: Soul Pod +5, Caustic Tower Shield, Deadly Bracelet This large room has a deep pool of acid in the middle of it with a walkway over the middle of it. You enter from the E. The Kabasaurs appear up around the edge, mostly in the SW area and the Water Knights appear down in the bottom of the pool. Move counter-clockwise around the pool, towards the N side and then down the W wall until you come to the corridor in the W wall that will lead to the Save point. Save. Now re-enter the DP Room and engage the Kabasaur(s). You will hear and notice that there are Water Knights in the Acid Pool. Ignore them for now. You will lose HP and equipment (rapidly) if you engage them while they are still in the acid. It is now time to drain the swamp. Move into the SW corner and into the doorway there. See the Face looking at you on the wall? Well, down in the acid here and to the W a bit is a chamber with a pedestal that takes the first Floodgate Key. Decide if you want to wear armor or not. There are no creatures to fight. Jump in and use the Floodgate Key. Now quickly move back to the E and find the corridor through the acid heading E. Follow is and just after you go up some steps and out of the acid, you will fins a Cune. Re-equip yourself and follow the corridor around. At the T intersection, you will see a Kabasaur to the W and a room with a Soul Pod +14 in it. This is also a room you will Warp into from another Warp point on this level. The Kabasaur never Dropped anything for me. Take it out. Return to the Face area. Another pedestal has appeared here that takes the second Floodgate Key. This will do 2 things. First it drains all the Acid from this level (Yayyyyyy) and second, makes it possible to access a weird looking treasure chest in the chamber down below the Face on the wall. Of course, you must obtain the Mermaid key first. The chest contains the Sorcerers Ring of Frost. Once you go down there, you will find the only way out is a Warp point in the NE corner of this lower area. It leads to the room mentioned before that was nest to the Kabasaur. Now you can drop down into the Deep Pool area with the Water Knights in it. Save first, of course and take out any Kabasaurs that appear before you jump down. There is no coming back this way once you do unless you have a Sacred Feather on you. In the W section just under the bridge above you will find the Shield. Battling the Water Knights is best done close up and you should be in constant motion. Move away from them and watch them approach. They jump up, do a corkscrew rotation towards you, like a bullet or arrow will, then land and hit you. The corkscrew attack is worse than their bite. So stay close and use the Swing-Magic-Swing type of tactic, constantly repositioning yourself. Again, no Acid magic, obviously. One of the last ones you will encounter will drop the Mermaid Key. You may have to come back through here again later on in the game to encounter this last Knight. I sure did. In all 3 games I played through. The way out of this level is through the corridor to the N that is under the bridge that runs over the Deep Pool section. Be sure to pick up the bracelet on the way out. -------------------------------------- WW - Watery Labyrinth Area -------------------------------------- You enter this region facing W. Now for one of the most irritating and challenging regions anywhere in the game. The acid on the floor of every room of this region means you will be constantly taking damage, except for the few places where there are islands of high ground. If there was any level where I recommend having a large stock of Hpotions prior to entering, this is the one. I STRONGLY recommend you take off your boots and go barefoot everywhere. Otherwise, you will go through all your boots before you are even one-quarter finished with this level. This is the level where Acid Vaccines are the RULE. Check your inventory. At this point, I think I had at most 2 Acid Vaccines. You will need them and possibly 1-2 more. Having said that, my strategy for this level that I will share with you is to find the Save point first, then go to the room where you can obtain up to 3 more Acid Vaccines. The first goal is pretty easy; it is only 3 rooms away with a Smithy in the same room (thank goodness) and the second is done by running a gauntlet of opponents to find a room with a switch to throwwhich will grant you access to another room where you will find beneficial items to add to your growing collection. Wherever possible, use the limited dry ground to fight from with magic and ranged attacks but be ready. Many of the opponents you face hurl acid at you. Constantly. Several of the opponents are real tough and the fastest way to take then down is with the Swing-Magic-Swing tactic. And even then, it is not so much important to just take your opponent out fast as it is the fact that your opponent is the first of 3 to 6 possible opponents who will keep appearing after you finish the prior one off. You will take a lot more damage from the constant ranged attacks that damage not only you but also your equipment and weapons (!) if you just stand off shooting arrows and spells at your opponent. It is necessary to engage them face-to-face to quickly prevent taking more damage than you can afford. And many of these opponents are as fast or faster than you. This level will challenge you. The ground is also uneven, so sometimes just as you swing, you may slide a bit to the side and your swing will miss. As I said; it is a challenge. But I found it one of the most fun because of that very challenge. Anyway, take off your boots, swallow the vaccine (yechhh) and walk down the corridor to the W. For ease of reference, I will simply name the rooms on this level by a single letter in capitals. >Room A >Kabasaur (Drop nothing) >Horned Slime (Drop nothing) >Find: 2 Cunes As you can see, the dry land has disappeared and the world of acid puddles dominates. Use ranged attacks from the dry land you are standing on against the HS and the Kabasaur if you want. This is the best tactic, since neither of these hurls acid from across the room. Then proceed through the other corridor in the W and go straight, ignoring the corridor going N for now. >Room B >Kabasaur (Drop nothing) >Horned Slime (Drop nothing) >Find: nothing Similar tactics as in Room A. Adjust them to fit your situation. From this room, do not bother going W again. It leads to a locked metal door next to a window that gives you a view of the room that will be your second goal. Do not lose HP going to look, conserve it. Instead, take the N corridor from here and follow it into Room C. >Room C >Find: nothing (Save point, MP trader, Smithy) Here, you can repair weapons and heal up, then save. Get some Mpotions only if you need them. Now get ready for the gauntlet. You can just run the gauntlet straight or go to one room, clear it, return and save, and then go back out to the next room if you want. But be forewarned. Rooms E and G are TOUGH. And you have to go through these rooms to be able to get the other Vaccines. Head back to the corridor between Rooms A & B and take the N corridor. You may encounter a Kabasaur in the corridor. I did once. As it heads N and enters Room D, there are going to be acid spewing Gaze Hoppers gathered to greet you. >Room D >3 Gaze Hoppers (Drop Dark Ring) >Find: Hpotion Because they spew acid and will block your entrance into Room D, the Bow can be the best solution to these critters until they get YOUR range. Then you may as well grab steel and start carving. So take this battle as you encounter it. Arrows sometimes do not make it to their targets because of the effect of the uneven ground. Trial and error will help you to decide. Use a slashing weapon and tilt down to hit these creatures. To the W of this room is a corridor that comes to a T and heads to Rooms I & J. Leave them be for now. Head E to the other corridor leading to (Gulp!) Room E. >Room E >3-4 Slashers (Drop Hpotion)/{Later - Full Plate Mail of Honor) >Find: Great Shield These guys remind me of the creature from Aliens, with the tail bobbed off. And they attack with slashing attacks that HURT and with acid sometimes. They are VERY fast. This is a 'Big Gun' time. Wear the best of everything, even boots (you can repair them at the smithy later). If you can combine equipment to emphasize speed first, strength second, defense third. Their speed will get you dead real fast. You need to match it if you can and then Swing-Magic-Swing them. Frozen Hornet worked surprisingly well here. You must enter this room ready to fight. Watch your Hpoints carefully and be ready to use an Hpotion. If you cakewalk over these guys, pat yourself on the back. You are ahead of the game. If it makes you grit your teeth but you win, you are just about right. If you keep dying and do minimal damage, go back through the upper levels if you can and kill EVERYTHING off, then come back here. Or else run through this room and then the next to the exit from this level and WARP to a new WORLD and Region where you can level up some. Then come back here and take these guys down. Since I am taking you to a specific goal, bypass the E corridor to Room F for now and head into the N corridor. You may want to take an Hpotion before entering <> Room G. >Room G >4-6 Koazuls (Drop Cunes, Helmet) >Horned Slime (Drop Hpotion OR Caustic Ring) >Find: Cune, Soul Pod +14 To run the gauntlet, stay to the left and head for the corridor in the W wall. To fight, wear anything that gives you Acid Defense and increases your strength. Remember, you will not only be taking damage from the Koazuls to equipment and Hpoints but also from the acid on the floor. These guys constantly BATHE you in acid and gang up on you with slashing claws that penetrate. KEEP MOVING. The screen often became so green from the acid they were hurling that it was very hard to read my HP total. I'm not kidding. Bathe is the perfect word. Use every combo that works for you best. It is hard to stun them, but I found that even low power Dark attacks seem to stun them. That Dark Ring you just picked up from the Gaze Hoppers? If you have anything that boosts your Dark Magic, equip it to increase the effect of this ring. You can try combining the equipment that will increase Critical Hits. Critical hits simply double the damage of the attack. Use whatever tactic you can that will shorten this battle. Once one dies, a new, fresh one takes its place. I have gone through 4 Hpotions in this room alone in order to survive. That is why I save before coming to this room and why running through the first time is what I think is the best idea. Whether you stand and fight (and survive!) or run into the W corridor, proceed W. From that room there is also an E corridor that leads to the door to the next Area and the Boss of this World. It is better to clear this level and heal/repair up before going against him. This looonng corridor will turn to the SW and then due S. It is at this turn that a Cune can be found on the floor. Then head into Room H (sigh). >Room H >2-3 Blood Brains (Drop Bottle of Light) >Find: Cune In this room is a switch that will open the metal door to Room K. When finished here, head back to the save point and heal/repair up. Now go to Room K, located to the W of Room B. >Room K >4 Great Frogs (Drop Warrior Bow, Magical Plate Mail, Harden Full Helm) >Find: 3 Acid Vaccines (!) The frogs will not attack you. They are easy kills but it takes a lot of damage to take them down. And now you have the other Vaccines that will make surviving the rest of this level possible. Now go back to the Gaze hopper room (Room D) and enter the W corridor. Head N and into Room I. >Room I >Gaze Hopper (Drop Cune) >Slasher (Drop nothing) >Find: nothing After finishing these guys off, head S into Room J. >Room J >Gaze Hopper (Drop Cune) >Slasher (Drop Caustic Priest Ring) >Find: nothing Stop by the Room C (save) on your way back to the Slasher room (Room E) and enter the E corridor into Room F. >Room F >3 Manna Pythons (Drop Summoner Ring of Fire) >Find: nothing The Manna Pythons can only be hit at the very front and very back of the creatures. This makes it hard, because the Pythons can 'lean' into their biting attacks and essentially hit you 'at range'. And since you need to stand somewhat right in front of them... Use Blaze at range to hit them with magic or Frozen Hornet up close. Keep moving and pick your shots/swings. Once finished, go back and save, whether you are going to finish off the Koazuls or to leave the level. Yup. That's all, folks. Now go to the exit to the White Rain Area. But before you open the door, press the SQUARE key to raise the Shield you have equipped, preferably one that resists either Frost or Acid attacks. -------------------------------------- WW - White Rain Area -------------------------------------- You enter facing W and will immediately take damage before the room comes into view because of the jets of mist that are now blowing in your face. As soon as you can see the room, step just a little bit forward and stop. >Winged Worm Room >5 Winged Worms (Drop Amulet of Curing, Giant Axe, Ashes, Frosty Leg Guards) >Find: nothing Some of the 'faucets' from which the 'White Rain' is jetting out works, others do not. There is a WARP point in the middle of the S wall that leads to IW-Gloomy Domain. It is the way out of this level. You will also see flying blue Worms that shoot ice balls at you. Keep that Shield handy. You will use it a lot. Whenever you pass in front of a jet of mist, use the shield to reduce the damage. The Worms quite often appear behind you right after you come in. The safest place to stand and fight is towards the SW area where 1 jet is not working. The Worms will eventually come to you. Otherwise just stand in between the jets of mist and wail on the Worms as the come. You can now enter the next wide Hall where nothing happens. Head N and into the only other door in this Hall and into a room with 2 jets that are not working pointing at a pedestal that seems to be missing something. I never did find anything that goes here. But it sure makes you think SOMETHING goes there. Anyway, equip your self to be attacked by Frost magic and wield your best sword. Equip Fire magic or Holy Magic. They seem to work best. You are standing in the antechamber to the Throne Room of his mightiness, Boss Magi Magus. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOSS FIGHT - MAGI MAGUS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ As soon as you enter a scratchy voice tells you that you are a fool. Surprise, right? And then the Dragon Turtle on the right starts attacking with breath attack and bite attacks. Meanwhile, the wizard on the throne starts doing mini-teleports around the room, always to a point far from you, and firing snowballs and Frost magic that ripples out from his position in a 360 radius around him. The closer you are to him during the latter frost attacks, the more intense the damage. A strong encouragement to take him out with ranged attacks, which you will, but later. For now, ignore him and concentrate on the DT's. >THRONE ROOM >Magi Magus (Drop Mighty Ring-bracelet OR Shadow Wolf-katana) >3 Dragon Turtles (Drop Gothic Shield of Resistance, Acid Vaccine, Frosty Plate Mail) >Find: Caustic Sorcerers Ring, Soul Pod +29, 2-Soul Pods +5 Move in and swing at it, then back off and throw Fire Magic at it, close, hit, back off, Magic, etc.... Keep repositioning yourself to minimize MMs snowballs from hitting their target (you), even to the point of running around the creatures. As soon as one dies, another appears, up to 3 of them. To take out Magi Magus, move to the throne itself, trying to stay to the far side of the room that MM is on. Once there pull out your bow and equip yourself with all items that have Critical plusses on them, except weapons. Interpose the throne between you and MM. His snowballs cannot pass through the throne, so it becomes you defensive shield. Now this takes some slight planning. Using ONLY the L1 and/or R1 keys (strafe keys), slide out from behind the throne and stop. Then use the l-r arrow keys to target MM dead on from this position. Fire an arrow to make sure it hits him. From now on, ONLY use the L1/R1 strafe keys. Slide back behind the throne. Let him hurl his magic at you and let the throne block them. Slide out, fire an arrow, slide back behind the throne, slide out, fire, slide back, etc. It will probably take the whole quiver of arrows, but you will almost never get hit while taking him down. This is one way; you are free to try your own way. When done here, either return to the Prior Water World and repair all equipment or go ahead and WARP to the first ILLUSION WORLD, the Gloomy Domain. ************************************** ILLUSION WORLD ************************************** You might expect that the WORLDS with this name, ILLUSION, to be tricky, puzzle-filled, secrets-filled and annoyingly irritating traps and pitfalls, right? Wrong. Almost nothing along those lines happens. Just more levels of monsters, items, and experience. There are no 'illusions' to speak of. The invisible monsters in the BW - Screeching Area are closer to being Illusions than anything here. This was rather disappointing, at least in the expectations that the name generates. So, now you know. Settle in to more fighting and gathering of the fruits of your sweaty brow. -------------------------------------- IW - Gloomy Domain -------------------------------------- You WARP into this level facing N. There is a headstone to the Cune trader in front of you and a Cune just to the Right of it. Now is a good time to trade for the Beast Key since this is the last Cune trader you will encounter before you need that key. The path out of here heads E. There is not a Save point on this level. If you head straight E from here and down the stairs, you will go right into the Bewilderment Domain. If you take the only right turn out of this corridor and head all the way S, you will find the door to the Tower mentioned earlier. The corridor (off of the E-W corridor) that runs N heads into a chamber containing several treasure chests. For now, take the S corridor and then turn W into a wider corridor. Follow this up the stairs you find and then stop at the top. >Dark Imp Room >Red Puppet (Drop Sorcerers Amulet) >Blue Puppet (Drop Gauntlet of Resistance) >Dark Imp-through hole in wall (Drop: nothing) >Find: nothing This is the first of 2 such rooms, almost exactly the same, except for the musician you encounter (the Imp). As soon as you enter into this room more that one-third of the way to the W wall, the Imp that can only be seen and shot at by the bow will start playing and will drain away your HP's. There are 2 dancing puppets that will essentially ignore you unless you attack them. I recommend moving to one of the N or S walls and waiting for the dancing pair to come over by you by strafing with the L1/R1 keys. Be patient. This will help to insure that they do not attack you from behind while you are taking out the Imp. When they have gathered to one side, then strafe back to the middle and move forward to the hole in the wall. Using the bow, target slightly over the Imps head and shoot him. It will take maybe 3-5 arrows, but this is the only way to kill him quickly. Some spells can reach him, but the time it takes to aim, the misfires into the wall, and the HP draining away make this option impractical. The Imp does not drop anything and you cannot access the room he is in at all. Once finished you may dispose of the puppets at your leisure. Isolate one, take it out then finish off the other. Head back down the stairs and take the first N passage you come to. There is a narrow spot in this corridor near the middle. For Now, consider this narrow spot as Marker A. More later on this. As you come out of the corridor into a T intersection running E-W, look to the R and you will see stairs going up. At the top of THOSE stairs is Marker B. For now, head W up the stairs to another duplicate room to the Dark Imp Room. >Black Imp Room >Red Puppet (Drop Bracelet of Composure) >Blue Puppet (Drop Anti-Paralytic) >Black Imp-through hole in wall (Drop: nothing) >Find: nothing The Black Imp will drain MP and may curse you. Deal with this room as you did the other room. Having finished off these 2 rooms, the points I called Marker A & B will come into play. From this point forward at least 2 Dark Bishops (possibly 3) will appear at those points, hurling fire at you. This appears to be random but they will appear eventually. >Marker Points A & B >2-3 Dark Bishops (Drop Dark Priest Ring, Holy Ring of Priest) >Find: n/a Whenever they do, the Bow is your best initial weapon, unless they close the distance. They also do the 360-degree explosive attack like Magi Magus did so close proximity to these guys is unhealthy. Now head Marker B area and find 6 treasure chests ripe for the picking! Any smart gamer knows that when you find something like 6 treasure chests sitting in an open area like this, you immediately look for the guardian(s) before opening even one. If you do that, you will find them. Up on the walls. >Dark Fairy Room >5-6 Dark Fairies (Drop Acid Vaccines, Ring of Fire Resistance) >2 Ring Demons (Drop Ashes) >Find: Amulet of Recovery (in the E chest) Taking out the Dark Fairies start with you getting a good distance from them. Their primary attack is to rain down acid on you. And they have good range with it. Again, the bow is the best bet, but magic can be used also. The first attack you make will not do damage, but will make them start attacking you. NOW you can damage them. Fortunately, they do not attack en masse, but only one at a time. Do not open any chests while engaging them. There are monsters in 2 of the chests called Ring Demons that will gladly aid the Fairies in expediting your demise. They are in the NE and SW chests. The NW and SE chests only have voices in them. The W chest is empty. This W chest and the E chest need a key that can be found in the Bewilderment Domain. More on that key in the Bewilderment Domain. Keep moving when you release the Ring Demons. Use magic and crushing/smashing attacks on them. Once you are finished here, you might want to head out into the Tower and up the stairs heading into the Sunken River area to see if the Water Knight with the Mermaid Key has made an appearance and then maybe into the Watery Labyrinth to boost your equipments durability ratings back up. Or you may want to WARP back to the White Rain area and hoof it directly back to the Watery Labyrinth through the back door. Once done, travel back here for some challenging fighting. From the Dark Fairy Room, head east down the stairs and turn S. >Deha/Maristella Room. >4-6 Deha's (Drop Tower Shield of Protection, Dust of Rage, Gothic Shield) >1 Deha (Drop Great Helm) >4-6 Maristella's (Drop Cunes, Full Plate) >Find: Dust of Rage, Guardian Great Sword The Deha's are the headless boxers and the Maristellas are the floating heads. The Dehas seem to be almost totally proof against being stunned and even when they sound like they should be stunned, they come right back at you very quickly. Treat them as if they have a very quick status recovery stat. Some weapons can stun them and potent magic does too. Equip critical effect items for a better chance to stun them. They do not let up their attack and will enter the corridors to chase you. They can also cast a Holy attack at you from its fists and also in an area attack like Magi Magus did. Warning. These are not creatures you want to stand toe-to-toe with. Their punches are many, fast and potent. You will lose HP faster than you can afford to with these guys. Do hit and run type attacks or try ranged attacks. The Maristellas are actually easy in comparison. Their laugh can paralyze you and won't that be fun with a few of the Deha swarming around you? It can also shoot cold attacks at you, but rarely does if you keep your distance. The bow works quite well, although a good sword works well too. Try to take out the Maristella first if you can, but do not ignore the Deha. They are fast and relentless, although they do occasionally engage in some private Shadow Boxing by themselves. Once you finished off the first round of opponents, go to the W wall where a knight has been skewered by a sword. Prepare yourself by healing and switching equipment if you need to. Then take the sword from him. Once you do, he disappears and a voice asks if you are ready. Turn around immediately to engage a very fast Deha. THIS IS NOT A BOSS FIGHT. He may or may not be followed up by other Deha or Maristellas. Once done, you are ready for the next realm. -------------------------------------- IW - Bewilderment Domain -------------------------------------- You enter this Domain facing N. This domain is anything but what its name implies. Yes, there are odd things that happen, but they do not 'bewilder' the player. And because this Domain is mostly comprised of corridors and there are 'creatures' in the corridors, I will warn you that I will be using a lot of NSEW directions. It might be easy to get confused if you are not using the maps. I will also use references of the 'crossroads', listed as CR1, CR2, etc. These points are places where the corridors cross or branch into another corridor.. I will only note those that are significant to this walkthrough and that will make movement through the level easier. There are also different tactics that you can use on this level. Because the 'creatures' in the corridors are actually mask-like creatures that are hanging on the walls, there are 2 primary ways of dealing with them. Defensively and Offensively. You can walk with a shield raised to help deflect the fire- and frost-balls that will be hurled at you as you approach the creatures, or with the bows equipped and ready to fire. Your choice. But fair warning; there is ONE of these creatures you do NOT want to kill. He will not be firing magic at you though. There are also 2 Save points on this level! I will take you to the first one and then we will engage the rest of the creatures. One more thing. The Key of Delusion. There are 2 of these keys possible to find outside of one of the 6 treasure chests on this level. 4 of the chests on this level have Keys of Delusion in them, 2 chests have Equipment in them. Also, 2 of the chests on the prior level need Keys of Delusion to open, although only one of those has anything in it. So, as you obtain the 'loose' Keys, consider carefully which items you will want to obtain. Because these Keys are ONE TIME USE KEYS. You use it and lose it. You can open all the chests if you want. All but 2. The empty one in the Gloomy Domain should be one of the last 2. The other one is up to you. You can use the first key you obtain to open the next chest with another Key in it, then go to the next chest with a Key in it, etc. Ok, onto the level. Facing N, start walking, turning W at the bend. Proceed a short distance to the first branch heading N. This is CrossRoad1 (CR1). There is a Gargaral in the Western wall niche in the N corridor that you HAVE to attack head on. You can try strafing with the bow, but it requires a lot of work and timing. Just beat it down with a Bastard or one-handed sword. Now Head N but DO NOT kill the GorGoral on the N wall. TALK TO IT. It has been lonely and will give you your first Key of Delusion, then disappear. Now, head back S from here to CR1. Proceed W, passing the S corridor (for now) and take out the Gargaral on the wall in front of you that has been shooting fireballs at you. You can step to the side of it and beat it down without taking any other damage. This is true of all these creatures. By the way, there are 3 types of these mask-like creatures with VERY similar names, so keep track. All Gargarals and Gordorals drop Cunes unless otherwise noted. Now step to the N, ignoring the fake spear trap and pick up the Cunes on the floor. Go back to the S branch of the corridor and target the Gordoral firing frost-balls at you at the far end of the S corridor or head down there and kill it. This point is CR2. Head to the E and turn S to the first Save point. Go back to CR2 and head W, picking up the Cune before you reach the N corridor junction. Do NOT go N yet. Head W some more and you will come to the first Battle Room. >Death Mage Room >Rotting Face (Drop Mpotion) >3 Death Mages (Drop Wizard Crown) >Find: (floor) Heavy Gothic Shield, Cune; >Chests: SE = Key of Delusion, NW = Plate Mail Of Resistance As you approach this room, expect the screen to turn red as you become cursed from the rotting face sitting on a shelf above the door. Ignore the effect for now and head into the room to engage the Death Mages. The Death Mages wield Scythes and black lightning attacks. I am not quite sure but it may be a Dark based attack. They are resistant to magic attacks but Frozen Hornet still seems to do the most damage of all magic. Approach with sword in hand and magic combos and they fold pretty quickly. But only the sword will stun them. After finishing them off, Take out the bow and kill the Rotting face at range. Of course, now you can use the Divine Symbol to take the curse away. There is nothing in the short corridor to the W. Now head back into the corridor (E) and take the N passage into another chamber. >Demon Warriors Room >6 Demon Warriors (Drop 2 Hpotions, Sorcerers Bracelet, Dragon Sword, Bow Gun (Crossbow)) >Find: (floor) 2 Cunes >Chests: SE & NW = Key of Delusion Demon Warriors that wield 2 swords each like a blender. Do not get caught between 2 or more of them because between the swords whirling (like in a Quisinart) and the Dark Breath attacks (that keep 'hitting' you multiple times) you will die very quickly. One on One is the rule. One thing you can do with magic. Equip Holy magic rings with Cleansing Ray on them, then line 2 or more of the Demons up in a row and fire the Cleansing Ray, it will damage each one as it passes through them. This is the only attack I know of that will produce this effect. The other magic to use is, of course, Frozen Hornet. Equipment with Critical Attack bonuses are helpful here. Kill one, move to the next, kill it, etc. It is important to save before entering this room. It took MANY tries to get the creatures to Drop ANYTHING! All three of the equipment items mentioned here are worth getting. It is possible to get them all to Drop them, but you really have to 'work' this room several times. And I am pretty sure that the one that did not drop anything CAN Drop something. The N corridor has an irritating Stone wall with a hole in it that drops down and blocks your progress from both directions. Ignore it and go all the way back to CR1, head N to the wall that held the Gordoral, turn E and pick up the Cune, and turn N and take out the Gargaral on the far N wall. Turn W and head to the intersection with the N corridor. This is CR3. Proceed W and turn S. There is a Gordoral on the wall ahead. Take it out and turn W. There is a Cune on the floor here and the Stone wall that drops down is just to the S. Now return to CR3. The far N wall has a Gargaral on it that Drops either the Amulet of Resistance or the Sorcerers Amulet. Proceed W to another Gargaral on the W wall, then S, then W again. There are 2 Cunes in this area, one in the corridor prior to the junction heading S and just inside the S corridor. As son as you reach this corridor, you will become cursed again from another Rotting face on a shelf above the doorway into the W chamber. >War Demons Room >Rotting Face (Drop Mpotion) >3 War Demons/Red/Sword (Drop Keenest Broad Sword, Shining Plate) >2 War Demons/Blue/Axe (Drop Righteous Sword) >Find: (floor) Cune >Chests: SE = Key of Delusion; NW = Deadly Bastard Sword The easiest way to finish these guys off is with the Bows. Run into the room and IMMEDIATELY to the left behind the chest and into the SE Corner. Target the Rotting Face first, then use a Divine Symbol. Without moving, Target the first War Demon (Red) coming into the room from the small N chamber. When he dies, another will appear in the NW corner. Move in front of the chest and use the bow & arrow again. Another will then appear in the SW corner area. Take him out. Now, a Blue War Demon with an axe appears in the middle of the room. Back towards the doorway you entered through, still using the bow. When he dies, move into the room and target the War demon in the S chamber. Now collect everything and leave the room. Take the S corridor and turn W. The 2 S corridors that branch off of this one contain an Hpotion trader and the second Save point. The door at the far W end of the corridor leads to Worship Domain. -------------------------------------- IW - Worship Domain -------------------------------------- You enter this level facing N. The best thing for you to do is walk and when necessary, WARP, your way back to the Watery Labyrinth and heal up the durability of your equipment. By now, if you have not traded a lot of things away for Hpotions and Mpotions, you should have a pretty big arsenal of equipment to choose from. Now you can really start having fun. Start combining equipment, weapons, amulets, bracelets and rings to bring out special abilities, like wear all the items you can that increase the Critical hit ability, which is actually a way of doubling the regular damage you can do. But, on occasion, I have managed to do 4x damage when the plusses exceeded +80. A VERY RARE occurrence, but taking down an opponent that took 10 normal hits alone with 3 hits was great fun! This level is really pretty straightforward. Each set of opponents gather together in their own large chamber giving you plenty of room to maneuver and deal with them. It is this level that I will specifically recommend use of Holy Magic rings (and supporting equipment, if you have it), Frozen Hornet rings which by now are the primary ring you are wearing, Critical Hit Equipment (the Shadow Wolf, especially), And any equipment that has special properties that increase the Cold and Holy magic use. Otherwise, Go for Strength increasing equipment and a Great Sword and the Frozen Hornet. The Bows will be key in one chamber. This level has 3 "LORDS of ILLUSION"; Gorthur, Willowess, and Fester. You must take all three out before you can continue on from here. It is possible to enter the next level with the boss in it, but you will not encounter her until you beat these three. So finish them here and you will have access to the Boss of Illusion World. This place has Intra-Warps that I will reference using the following designations like A1, A2, B1, B2, etc., where A is a connecting Warp and 1 and 2 reflect which 'door' you are using. Thus A1 and B2 do not connect but B1 and B2 would. To start out, first you should use a Bottle of Light. Equip yourself with one of the Illuminating Crowns, then proceed into the next chamber. SURPRISE! That silly Mole beat you here, too! Talk to him once and then he disappears. No head E into the next chamber where you can hear the clinking of armor, the grunting of effort as a big sword 'whiffs' through the air. Yep, they're called Master Knights. >Master Night Chamber >5 Master Knights (Drop 3 Bastard Swords: Lethal, Shining, & Piercing) >Find: nothing They usually appear in pairs and as soon as one goes down, another appears. They do not stun easily and continually try to jab you with their sword. Critical equipment and Frozen Hornet (FH) are best to bring them down, with Holy Magic a good backup/alternative. I usually only got one of them to drop one of the three swords I found here, but once I got 2 of them. Finish them, check your stats, and move on. >Lord Gorthur Room >Lord Gorthur (Drops Ring of Ice) >Find: nothing (intra-Warp A1 is here) Holy magic and FH help a lot, Holy magic can stun him if powerful enough. Critical plusses help make this a short battle, but do NOT use the bows here. Save them for later. He has no one to help him, so take him down (pretty easy) and move to the back wall in the E that is 'pulsating' in and out. This is what I call intra-Warp A1, a minor WARP point that teleports you to another point on the same level. If you face the wall as you approach, you will walk 'out' of the other intra-Warp point facing the same direction. WARNING. If while you are battling creatures in rooms with the Warp points and you back into a Warp, you will appear at the other Warp point facing the direction you were facing, NOT into the other room. It is therefore wisest to always walk face first into these points. After exiting the Warp point A2, you find yourself in an apparently empty room. >Cross Breeds Room >5 Cross Breeds (Drop 2x Divine Symbols, Bottle of Light) >Find: nothing You will not find any Cross Breeds in here until after you have entered the next chamber proper and then return. The Cross Breeds are flying crosses with faces in the middle. They are VERY FAST moving and shoot fireballs at you. Guess what their secret weakness is? Believe it or not, it is FIRE. Hard to believe that something that shoots fireballs can be brought down fast with the same thing, but then there is the old adage to 'fight fire with fire'... Trying to catch them to hit them can be tricky and will cost you a lot of HP, unless you protect yourself with lots of Fire Protection and a Fire World Stone prior to entry. The next room is perhaps the easiest and most important. >Warpoor Chamber >7 Warpoors (Drop Ring of Poison, Poison Vaccine, 2x Mpotion, 2x Hpotion) >Find: nothing The maps show that there is something to find in this room, but each time I come here there is nothing to find. I think that it is a unique item that I had already found. If anyone finds something here in the SW corner area before they kill anything, let me know. Warpoors are essentially the shelled fish called the Nautilus but with a face in it that spits acid and floats in the air. They do not move but do pivot in place. I usually equipped the bow, made sure I had a Bottle of Light going, equipped Critical plusses, and headed into the far NW corner and, one by one, emptied my quiver until the room was clear. Easy. The occasional acid-ball did hit me, but I could live with that and it was the easiest and least painful tactic. Using Critical plusses and the Shadow Wolf is beautiful, especially when you get nothing but Critical hits on each one of these guys. You can one-swing each one! Save the Warrior bow for the next level if you can. Once finished, you have 2 directions you can go: E into the room with Fester and S into the Warp point B1 that lead to more Warpoors and Willowess. I recommend the Warp B1. >Lord Willowess Room: >Lord Willowess (Drop: nothing) >3 Warpoors - Drop Key of Delusion, Harden Plate mail >Find: Deadly Gauntlet (Warp point B1 is here) Upon entry, a Warpoor appears right in front of you to distract you while the other 2 on the left and right and Willowess (straight ahead) start taking points away from you. Instead of that, turn left (N) and go grab the Gauntlets on the floor. They increase your Critical hits +5. Now, using Shadow Wolf or your most Slashing or Piercing weapon, take out the Warpoors. Willowess is just draining your magic, not your health. The Warpoors drain your health AND durability of what you are wearing with acid. Holy magic works well on Willowess, when you can nail her when she is not teleporting. But if you watch the floor when she does, you can follow her shadow to where she is going and hit her when she re-materializes. When done enter Warp B2 and go to the E (and last) room where Fester (the Jester) is waiting for you all alone. >Lord Fester room >Lord Fester (Drop Priest Bracelet) >Find: nothing (Warp C1 to Dream Domain) Fester shoots black lightning at you and teleports. Use Holy magic and Critical plusses to finish him off QUICKLY. It really is that easy. And now move to the E wall and into Warp C1 to the next Domain. -------------------------------------- IW - Dream Domain -------------------------------------- You enter this Domain facing N. Now for the easiest level of all the levels in this game. Sure the first Human World level has the weakest monsters and is pretty straightforward, but at the beginning with only the Short Sword, no armor, no items, etc versus the armory you carry in the bag and on your back, the knapsack bursting with items to use, and the jewelry to grant you magic use with only 4, count 'em, four opponents to take out in one room, makes this really the easiest level you will complete for 100% in the stats. And this is a Boss Level! OK, you appear in a wide corridor that slowly does a 180 turn to the E - SE. You will pass a WARP POINT to the BEAST WORLD - False Eye Area at the apex of the curve but just go pass it for now to the huge double doors at the bend of the corridor. Stop and equip as follows. Emphasize Strength, Critical, Piercing, and Speed in as best a combination that suits you. Magic should be Holy and Frozen Hornet. First weapon upon entry should be the Warrior Bow, or the Bow if you do not have the WB. Now use another Bottle of light (if you need it) and enter the chamber of Disguise. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOSS FIGHT - DISGUISE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Remember how I said this would be an easy level? Well, upon entry, move just a little to the left until you can just make out in the far distance something floating in the air. Do not go behind the pillars. You don't need their protection at all. The things floating in the air are called Dark Spirits. >3 Dark Spirits (Drop Sacred Feather, Evil Eye, Spirit Book) >Find: Anti-Paralysis, Soul Pod +14, Soul Pod +29 As soon as you can see the first DS, draw a bead on it and start shooting arrows into it. These guys attack with Dark Gas (you are effectively out of range), MP Drain (you are barely in range, but the heads alternate between attacks; it does not happen often enough to worry about) and Poison Gas (again, you are out of range). So you see, by taking these 3 out first, it will just be you and Disguise, mano y masko. (sorry all you female players - no insult intended). These guys are also magic resistant. So long range physical attacks are the best solution and hey, less hassle in the long run! Once you finish off the first slowly move forward until the next DS becomes barely visible. At this point so will Disguise who is either on the throne or in front of it. Ignore her. Take out the DS. Finish it, then strafe right (R1) until you can line up and see the one behind Disguise to your right. Take it out. OK, now it is you and Disguise. >Disguise (Drop either Mystic Great Helm or Amulet of Winter - preferred item!) Pick your attack, Smashing, Slashing or piercing (weakest choice). Equip yourself as you see fist, but keep the Magic the same as noted before. Get ready to use the Weapon-Magic-Weapon combo. Disguise only seems to stun on physical attacks but she keeps throwing magic and physical attack combos herself. She can WARP around but rarely did in my encounters with her. You should be able to get through this by losing less than half your HP, perhaps only 1/4. Attack with Holy magic first because 1) it did occasionally stun her and 2) you are still a distance from her when she threatens to finish you off. Frozen Hornet does more damage up close. Then, after you fire the Holy attack move right up to her, hit her, dance to her side and then use Frozen Hornet. Do NOT try to get behind her because that insures that she will teleport. Stay to the side or to her front. She will go down pretty fast, say 2 minutes tops. There it is. You have just gotten 100% on this level. Now collect the items here and head to the WARP stone to the next World. ************************************** BEAST WORLD ************************************** Welcome to the world of the beasts. Only 2 levels face you, but there is a trick to the second one. All the creatures there are invisible unless you can obtain the one object that will make them visible. And that is located somewhere in the False Eye Area. -------------------------------------- BW - False Eye Area -------------------------------------- You WARP into this area facing W. This room you find yourself in has a Save point and MP trader. Make use of them. Now equip Holy Magic Rings and Frozen Hornet. You will be able to one-shot most of the smaller beasts with these magics, but physical attacks still are the best first line of offense. Conserve the magic for the real bad ones later. Now enter the first Chamber. >Night Howler Chamber >3-4 Night Howlers (Drop Cunes) >Chirper (Drop Dust of Rage) >Find: nothing Night Howlers are headless apes. Remember these guys because you will meet them later, and their BIG daddy will play a very important part in the future when you meet him. These guys can poison you with a touch OR if you get too close to them. They do NOT have to hit you to poison you. Be careful of your attack plan or just use magic. To the E is the corridor with the door into the Tower, your exit from this level. To the W is a corridor with stairs leading to a small room with a secret door in each wall. Call this the Junction Room. But as you arrive, you meet the lizard servant who serves Necron, Lord of Beast World. If you survive and meet him again, you will obtain a special something (weapon). After he disappears, move to the S wall and open the secret door to the Howler Den. >Night Howler Den >5 Night Howlers (Drop Cunes) >'Big Daddy' Howler (Drop Young Dragon Gem) >Find: Great Sword, Soul Pod +5, Soul Pod +29 You will first encounter 4 NH's back to back, one at a time. You will have to clear most of the level before 'Big Daddy' appears. The Young Dragon Gem is what will make the creatures on the next level visible. More on that later. The 5th NH appears as you re-enter the room later on. The Big Daddy makes his appearance. When finished, move back to the Junction Room and go through the W wall and take out the one Night Howler in that room who drops a Cune. Then get yourself ready for some bigger and badder beasts. Open the N secret Door. >The Main Corridor >3 Saurian Soldiers (Drop Swift Gauntlet) >2 Dinogon (Drop Anti-Paralysis) >Find: nothing You will need to equip the most potent Poison attack rings you have and any magic attack increasing equipment you have. The next creatures you will encounter receive the most amount of damage and can be stunned by Dual Poison occasionally. The Deadly Bastard sword backed up by Critical plusses worked best and was the most consistent in dishing out high damage. The Green Saurian Soldiers never stop swinging their man-sized meat cleavers and can cut you down to size quickly. They also have good movement ability. But there is an advantage you have. As you enter this portion of the corridor, look for the second blue flame torch on the left (W) wall. There is an imaginary line that the Saurians will NOT cross right about here. Make good use of it as they appear. After the three big guys are dispatched, there are the 2 Dinogons, fire- breathing mini-dragons, that attack you. Dual Poison works well again and so does the Deadly Bastard sword. Now there are three rooms off of this corridor. Go back to the secret door that led into the Main Corridor and search the E wall. >Freak Room >Hermit Crab (Drop Ring of Dark Souls) >4 Freaks (Drop Poison Vaccine, Living Axe, Deadly Battle Axe) >Find: nothing The Hermit Crab is subject to Acid attacks and the Deadly Bastard Sword. But the Freaks go down quickly with Holy magic, especially the weak double ring attack, Judgement. In the NW wall of Main Corridor is another door leading to the next opponents. >Saurian Warrior Room >2 Saurian Warriors (blue) (Drop nothing) >Find: Harden Gothic Shield Similar to their green brothers, keep moving and hitting. You WILL take damage in here so keep an eye on the HP and pop an Hpotion if necessary. The last room off the Main Corridor has a Saurian Warrior in it that only appeared for me after I killed the Lizard Servant in the room at the top of the stairs. The Map says there is an item in the room, but I never have found it nor did the SW drop anything. This room is located in the far NE section of the corridor in the N wall. If anyone else found something please let me know. Now head up the stairs to the E and claim the fist major prize of this level from the Lizard Servant. DO NOT attack him. Instead, talk to him. The gift he gave me alternated between the Shadow Wolf Katana and the Shadow Tiger Katana. Give me the Wolf any day. But since MAGI MAGUS can Drop the Wolf every so often, you can hope to get the Tiger in addition to it here. From here, head back to the NH Den and see if Big Daddy appears. You may encounter another of the smaller ones but the Big one is almost as tall as the ceiling. He is the same creature, just bigger. After he dies, pick up the Gem and head for the next Area. Exit into the Tower and take the path to the left instead of the stairs down. -------------------------------------- BW - Screeching Area -------------------------------------- You enter this area facing W. And a wall. Turn to the right. The WARP stone ahead leads to the secret room in the WATER WORLD Impure Pool Area. This is the shortcut back into the upper levels of the Tower. This is the level where you will need to use the Beast Key traded from the Cune trader and the level where the creatures are invisible until you place the Young Dragon Gem on a pedestal. This level is the best justification for the lack of music that the game offers. You will be able to hear your opponents and know they are there, but not se them. If you get here without the Young Dragon Gem, you will thank the game designers that music was left out. I will get you to the pedestal as fast as possible. Head around the corner into a wide but short corridor with 2 doorways on the S wall. Take the first one and you will find the Save stone, Cune trader, and Smithy. Repair and Save. In the room next to this, you can talk to Auriel again. She will give you a Soul Pod +53(!), a very nice addition to your constantly increasing abilities. The next phase of this level is to get to the pedestal. Head into the next corridor that has several creatures that can appear to interfere with your progress. >Long Corridor >4 Oblids (Drops Mpotion) >2 King Hoppers (Drops nothing) >2 Warders (Drops Cunes) It is likely you will encounter an Oblid or two before you can get to the pedestal. Run past them if you can. Otherwise, finish them off. Near the end (far N) of the corridor there is a doorway on the E wall. At this point you will hear some groaning. You may even become paralyzed. That is caused by the Wardens that are near the ceiling to each side of this doorway. You cannot see them, but if you look at the Creature Book, you can see what they look like when they are visible. If you hear 'boinging' sounds, that is the King Hopper in the alcove at the end of the corridor. Ignore them for now; enter the doorway into the Dragon Pedestal Room. >Dragon Pedestal Room >Find: nothing Move to the pedestal, use the Young Dragon Gem, and now you will be able to see all your opponents on this level. The next room (Cursed Demons Room) contains creatures that will only appear after you pass through it once and then come back through it. I will explain them later. Pass through this room to the locked door. Use the Beast Key to open it. >Oxelus Room >3 Oxelus (Drop Keenest Battle Axe) >Find: Cunes x3 Trying to fight these guys while they were invisible got me dead more times than I care to remember. Visible is much preferred. They hurl fireballs and move moderately slow. But they do punch pretty well. Dance around them but try to isolate one of them and take it out fast. It easier (and safer) to go 1 vs. 2 than vs. 3. Wear fire protection gear and use a Fire World Stone for extra protection. As you leave here, the Cursed Demons will begin appearing. >Cursed Demons Room >4 Cursed Demons (Drop Mpotion x2, Soul Pod +29, Great Shield of Balance) >Find: nothing As soon as you exit the Oxelus room, the Cursed demons will appear and they carry a Cursed field around each one. Slashing attacks worked well and Frozen Hornet too. They are easy to maneuver around. Finish them, go back and heal up durability and health, and save. Now return to the formerly locked door to the Oxelus Room, head S down this corridor, and enter the Great Hall to the E. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOSS FIGHT - NECRON ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >Great Hall of Necron >3 Death Serpents (Drop Arm Guard Of Composure) >Necron (Drop Ring of Dead Spirit) >Find: nothing At this end of the hall will appear a creature called the Death Serpents. More fireballs, and again, easy to maneuver around. Standard tactics work well. But at the other end is one of the bosses you need to finish off, Necron. And no, he is not the Necron in KF. He fires cold waves and occasionally tosses and acid-based attack or paralysis. Move in and use smashing or slashing attacks and Holy magic. Combo him and he goes down quickly. But watch your HP. A lot of Cold attacks will make your HP drop fast. Use ranged attacks with Critical plusses if you feel more comfortable. Remember, there is a smithy on this level. Remember this smithy. It is the last one in the Tower. You will be coming back here a few times, I am pretty sure. Once done, the WARP stone to the DEATH WORLD Dark Castle Layer is now accessible. ************************************** DEATH WORLD ************************************** Death World is obviously the realm where 'undead' and their minions dwell. Everything considered, with the walking arsenal you currently have, you should have little trouble dealing with most of the creatures you encounter. Usually, if you just keep moving, dancing around, doing hit and back-off attacks combined with a magic spell, the same old combo, then really nothing can escape you. By now, you will have developed your own style of battle and tactics that work for you. I will now streamline the commentary on battles and make minor commentary where it will be helpful to know in advance. All of these levels have a constant 'darkness' field in place, so torches, lamps, and bottles of light are ineffective here. You will also keep running into people who 'seal' your magic. This can be easily overcome by the use of the Spirit Books you have been collecting. -------------------------------------- DW - Dark Castle Layer -------------------------------------- You enter from the WARP stone facing N. There is a Cune in the SW corner and a Save point here. Exit the door in the N Wall, and equip yourself to inflict slashing damage and Holy, Fire or Ice damage. You enter into the SW corner of the Arena. >Arena contains: >3 Armored Warriors-Mace (Drop Hpotion, Crushing Great Sword) >4 Armored Slayers-Axe (Drop Keenest Great Sword) >Find: nothing In the N Alcove, is another opponent. >Arena Alcove contains: >Armored Guardian (Drops Sealed Sword Stone) From here head to the W into the next room. >Hell Hunters Room contains: >2 Hell Hunters (Drop nothing) >2 Karasu (Drop Spirit Book) >Find: nothing Hell Hunters are the archers that teleport. Keep the pressure on them and they will not be able to get a bead on you. Similar for the Karasu. There is secret door in the W wall, but you have to teleport into it to open it. Save that for later and let's go upstairs. Head back into the corridor between this room and the Arena and take the small corridor going N and up to the door. Open it. >Junction Room contains: >1 Armored Warrior (Drop nothing) >2 Armored Slayers (Drop Hpotion) >Find: Nothing Take the N door first and then all the way N into the Tree Ogres Room. Take a Poison Vaccine before entering. >Tree Ogres Room contains: >4 Tree Ogres (Drop Hpotion, Cune, Spirit Book, Metal Gloves) >Find: Harden Bracelet-3 rings style Use Fire and Criticals for fast results. Return to the corridor and take the W branch of the corridor around to the walkway over the Hell Hunters Room and into the Guard Room overlooking the same room. >Guard Room contains: >1 Hell Hunter (Drop Cune) Slayer Room contains: >3 Armored Slayers (Drop nothing) >Find: nothing Finish them and head E towards the door to The Undead Layer. -------------------------------------- DW - Undead Layer -------------------------------------- You enter this level facing W. You are in 4-way intersection of 2 corridors. This is the Throne level of King Edward, as heartless a King as ever you shall meet. (Hint!) To do ANYTHING on this level of ANY note, you need to appropriate the Kings Key. Head straight ahead (W) into the corridor leading to the Throne Room with a slight detour into the small chamber to the S. There is an old friend in here that wants to say something smart-alecky to you. Bloodthirsty little rodent! Enter the Throne Room. >Throne Room contains >King Edward (Drops nothing) - Indestructible, for now. >4 Skeletons (Drop Divine Symbol) >Find: Kings Key The fastest way to deal with the skeletons is the Holy Spell Judgement and the Crushing Broad Sword, backed up by items that increase Smashing ability. Spell and Swing and they are gone. Now it is just you, the King (on the throne, wearing the crown) and the key. Grab the key and leave because the King has 6500 HP points. You can damage him all you want but you cannot KILL him, yet. Head to the 4 way junction you entered at and take the N direction. Go to the first door in the N wall, unlock it and move towards the next door. You will encounter a Clawhead that will block your progress. After you finish it, enter the next room which contains an Hpotion trader and a Save point. Back to the Main corridor and head W to the next-door but not before encountering 2 Hell Hunters in the Corridor. One of them Drops a torch (whoopee!) that is useless in these levels. Go figure. Open the next door, and there is another Clawhead that can Drop the Keenest Battle Axe. Enter the next room. This room is currently empty but will have opponents after you get to the heart of this level (2nd Hint!). Now go to the N wall, open the secret door and pick up the 2 Cunes and the Soul Pod +29. Back to the Main Corridor. Head W again and into the arrows of 2 more Hell Hunters that Drop a Torch and a Divine Symbol. Before opening the next door here, equip yourself for fire damage and use a Fire World Stone. A strong Slashing or Piercing attack will work best in the next rooms. The Bows are definite options, but slow. Criticals help to speed them up! >Heart Room contains: >King Edwards Heart >5 Demon Eyes (Drop Holy Ring, Dust of Rage x3) >Find: nothing The pulsating heart on the wall, once stilled, will permanently still King Edward. The Demon Eyes on the ceiling shoot lasers at you. Take them out and break the King's Heart. Go around the corner to finish off 2 more Demon Eyes. But wait! You keep getting hit by lasers from behind the wall? Yep. The 3 other Demon Eyes have appeared in the room mentioned earlier and you need to go back into the corridor and enter the second door again to finish them off. They only Drop a Mpotion. Head into the Throne room because 1 of 2 possible prizes awaits you. And one of them is NOT King Edward. He vanished when his heart gave up the ghost. On the N & S wall each you will find special placards with sword on them. If you use the Sealed Sword Stone on one of them, you will obtain the (N) Fiery Great Sword or the (S) Magical Bastard Sword. (Personal Preference = S) Now head to the throne itself and 'open' it. This is the way out of this level. Go through the door into a chamber with another door in the W wall. But first find the secret door in the S wall, and go pay a visit with Auriel. She will give you a Soul Pod +53! Now return to the prior chamber and consider your next move carefully. ############################### BREAKTIME ############################### OK, there is some explaining to do here. In order to enter the Lingering Curse Layer prior to entering the Boss Level, you NEED the Key of Knowledge to successfully complete it. The Key is IN the Lingering Curse Layer and there are 2 directions you can go to get it. One is the path I will take you through, which is through the Tower Core. The other is through the Gate of the Dead layer which is where Hallow Mage, the Death World Boss resides. And you stand at the door to the Gate of the Dead. You can go through right now, but that would force me to break up the next 2 levels into chunks, which is not how I want to write this Walkthrough. So I am going to remain semi-consistent and help you the reader to clear each level before going on to the next one, leaving the Boss level for last. So, I need you to go all the way back to the Dark Castle Layer and into the Arena room. In the SE corner of this room is a doorway that leads to a chamber with an exit in the S wall that leads into the Tower Core. As you walk out, there are stairs going up, the path goes around to the left and down to the platform with the WARP headstone leading into the Void and the Final Bosses. If you look to the right from here, you can see a platform that seems inaccessible from here with a low fence around it. It is there you are going. Head up the stairs and around to the right until you are on the walkway just above this fenced in platform. Now step off the edge and down onto the platform AGAINST the WALL with the corridor leading off of it. Go to the door and open it. -------------------------------------- DW - Lingering Curse Layer -------------------------------------- You enter this layer facing E. The corridor goes down and then up. At the bottom here, there is a barred window that looks into another corridor with writing on the wall. Head up the stairs and onto a walkway over a darkened room. The Bows are THE weapons of choice here. Meet Nyet, Lord of Memory Realm in Death World. You will never fight him, so just listen to him and get ready to shoot the bow. When he finishes, move forward to encounter Amon, Librarian of Nyet. He shoots Light balls at you, so equip Holy defense. There are actually 3 of them, 1 in front of you and 2 across the space to the N on a walkway you cannot access. The bow is the most efficient way to take them down. When done, you now need to drop down through the gap in the railing to the room below. If you venture into the corridor on the other side of this walkway, you will encounter a door that needs the Key of Knowledge to open. And the Key is presently down below. You will drop down towards the N side of the room, but head immediately for the SW corner of the room where a corridor with stair going up can be found. Stop at the top of these stairs. Recognize the window and writing on the wall? Ok, proceed forward into the room with the blocks on the floor. Move immediately to the E side of the room with the box sitting on a short pedestal. Open the Box and voila! The Key of Knowledge is yours. Another advantage of entering the room from this direction is that a certain creature called Panak doesn't get to seal your magic! If you come in through the WARP or pass through here again, though, you probably will get your magic sealed. Now for the obstacles. >Key of Knowledge room contains: >6 Stack Eyes (Drop Bottles of Light, Ashes) >Find: Key of Knowledge The best magic for these creatures is Corrosive Elements. Now go through the WARP stone in the W to the Dark Castle Layer and the secret room. STOP HERE a moment. There is a Cune behind the Warp stone you just entered here from and a Soul Pod +14 in the SW corner. The other WARP Stone lead to the Gate of the Dead near the Boss. Keep this in mind for now and leave the room by going through (and thereby unlocking) the secret door into the Hell Hunters Room. Go into the Arena, head to the exit into the Tower Core again. Take the stairs again, drop down onto the fenced platform and reenter the Lingering Curse layer, heading to the locked door that uses the Key Of Knowledge. Welcome to the beginning of the real fighting in this level. >Old Face Room contains: >10 Old Faces (Drop God Plate, Gothic Shield of Honor, Sacred Feather, Mpotion x2, Gothic Shield of Resistance, more???) >Bugler (Drop Evil Eye) Drop down into the main room and kill the Bugler first. The Crushing Great Sword is a GREAT weapon in this room. Now, one by one, take out the Old Faces. They can paralyze and slow you. But that should not be too big a problem. Head into the Corridor in the N wall and ready the Bow for more targeting and the Fireballs to fly. There are 2 items to claim here, a Spirit Book and the Dark Sorcerers Ring. >Book Room contains: >3 Apocrypha (Drop Ring of Seal, Priest Ring of Frost, Ring of Dark Souls) >2 Descrypha (Drop Spirit Book, Mpotion) >1 Wizcrypha (Drop Black Ring) Each of these books fires a spell at you. You best bet is to line up for a long shot and either fireball them to death or drop down into the room and Bow and Arrow them to death. This is due to good attack angle. Work out your own strategy against these opponents. Take the corridor in the S wall and into the main chamber where you had met Nyet and the 3 Amon's. There is an Evil Eye on the floor in the NW area and then exit through the SW corridor and into the Key of Knowledge room. Take the WARP stone to the Dark Castle and into the Arena room. Go to the secret door in the SW area where you initially WARPed into the Castle from fighting Necron. Go back to the smithy, fix yourself up, and then return here. Now return to the secret door on the W wall in the Hell Hunter room of the Dark castle and enter the room with 2 WARP points. Use the one in the S part of the room to Warp to the Gate of the Dead. Prepare for the next to last level. -------------------------------------- DW - Gate of the Dead -------------------------------------- You enter this level facing NW. This level is a series of 5 perfectly square platforms, each with their own combination of creatures. These platforms have no railings and long drops into total darkness. This should go pretty fast. If you decide to enter this place from the door behind King Edwards throne, you will be greeted by a voice telling you that your magic has been sealed. Unseal it with a Spirit Book. >WARP Platform contains: >3 Blue Wyverns (Drop Sacred Feathers) >2 Bone Wolves (Drop Spirit Books) >Find: nothing. The Blue Wyverns have a distinct 'chirp/squeak' and they like to fly around behind you. The Bone Wolves have a type of bark that announce their coming. Just keep moving and you will easily take them down. Once you find one, stop walking around and try to concentrate on keeping in a small area. If you roam too much, you will find yourself surrounded and dying very fast. Move to the bridge to the W, NOT to the N (yet). >Entry Platform contains: >3-4 Hell Warriors (Drop Deadly Great Shield) >Find: nothing After coming to this platform probably 3 dozen times or more, and killing these guys off, it was when I came through here on my second (finished) game while I was not trying to 'milk' the place of items that the shield above was dropped. This tells me that probably each of these guys has something they can drop, but would not for me. Anyway, these guys are strong, fast, deadly attackers who do not stop swinging their blades and are good at orienting on you. Try to take only one at a time on. For a real challenge (!), take 3 on at one time. When finished, head W again across another bridge. >Platform Doriwi contains: >2-3 Doriwi (Drop nothing) >2 Bone Wolves (Drop Spirit Books >Find: nothing Doriwi are large, tall humanoid creatures that walk like gorillas and can paralyze. They are slow and if you hit them and stun them, THEN use frozen Hornet on them and most of the 4 balls will stun them also. Head back to the Entry Platform and take the N bridge to another platform. >Stone Chest Platform contains: >4 Doriwi (Drop nothing) >Find: Gothic Shield of Balance (chest) Same tactics as before. Now head all the way back to the WARP Platform and go up the stairs to the last platform. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOSS FIGHT - Hallow Mage ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hallow Mage is actually very easy, because the same tactics that took out Magi Magus work here, just without the throne to assist you. The twist is the Blood Bones. >Hallow Mage Platform contains: >5 Blood Bones (Drop Broad Sword, Blood Sword, Swift Great Sword) >Hallow Mage (Drop Endless Amulet) >Find: Soul Pod + 5, Soul Pod + 53 Move to the NE and you may hear some bones rattling as you approach. This is good. Blood Bones each have a Curse field about them but will drop some nice weapons. Let them come to you. It is when you approach the middle N to NE corner that Hallow Mage comes into play. Leave him out of it for now, and try to get the BB's to come to you. Earth Magic from the KF series would be SOOOO nice right now. Oh, well. Just use weapons like the Crushing Great Sword and either Holy or Frost Magic and they go down FAST. Hallow Mage has the standard area effect magic attach that radiates out from around him. While this is a strong deterrent to closing with him to attack him, it is also a weakness to exploit. I will explain. Remember how I mentioned that there is a constant darkness field everywhere inhibiting Bottles of Light, etc? It also limits your line of sight. Well, Hallow mage also likes to teleport in quick short jumps. Sometimes to places out of sight. But then he 'radiates a spell that you CAN see in the darkness that pinpoints him at the center of it! I recommend the Warrior Bow and all the Critical Plusses you can wear. Forget high physical defense. Go for Magic defense if at all. Emphasize Criticals and high strength! This will help your arrows to do the maximum damage and sometimes double or quadruple damage. Just target the center of the spells and shoot. Sometimes he will 'port just before the arrow hits. That is ok; you have the Bow and/or Bow Gun also. Forget magic casting, since this guy is highly resistant to them. In a short time he goes down. The way is now open for you to enter the Void! The final Bosses await! (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) FINAL BOSSES - - - - - THE VOID (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) There are only 2 of them and the game is done. Go back into the Tower Core and walk all the way down to the bottom platform that has a WARP stone on it. Enter WARP, and you now stand in the VOID, before an insect-like face with (hopefully) 6 Golden/Brass colored spheres that look like eyes. If there are fewer than 6 of them, then you have missed killing a Boss somewhere. To determine which one(s), look at the Spheres that are there. Each one has a symbol on it that corresponds to the symbol that appeared on the doors to each WORLD. Identify those you can see on the spheres and the one(s) you do not have is the WORLD Boss you need to dispatch. To go back up and deal with them, walk up to the face and like a door, open it. A mouth appears. Walk into it and it will WARP you back to the same WARP stone at the bottom of the Tower. Once all 6 are in place Walk to the face, open its mouth and walk in. + + + + + + + + + + + + + BALRON - ARMORED + + + + + + + + + + + + + Walk DIRECTLY ahead from where you appear, which is a corridor that looks like a city street almost. BALRON will appear in your path. He has a BIG sword and stand very tall above you. Magic is weak against him, but you can get in 100-200 point spell hits on him. Dress for high physical and magic defense if you are going toe to toe. He DOES NOT stun easily at all, even with high weapon attacks. He does hurl black lightning attacks. I recommend keeping at range but running in and out to keep him from coming after you too fast. SAVE THE WARRIOR BOW for the final Boss. Keep out of sword range but not too far away. Dress for Dark Magic defense and the primary magic use (Holy, Ice, Fire) in magic attack. Use up your rings as you need to, you will NOT need them against the final boss at all. Keep backing up a bit as needed, moving from right to left to dodge the black lightning. This will take a while, but the payoff is that BALRON will be impressed with you and convert to his Non-Armored form. + + + + + + + + + + + + + BALRON - NON-ARMORED + + + + + + + + + + + + + This guy is the creature that killed the king in the pre-game demo. He is now fast and still has that BIG sword. Same Tactics, only this time you need to move faster, which is not easy. Use the Bow and Bow gun NOW. It is faster and yields better damage in less time than Magic will. If you decide to do the Sword-Dance with BALRON, keep one eye on him and the other on your Health meter. You will need to be ready to use an Hpotion as soon as your health drops into the lower 2000 points or lower. His sword can carve 2000 HP's off of you in one shot! What is VERY important to remember is the direction you were facing when you first came in. Because that is the direction you need to go to get to the final Boss. Of course it is 50-50 you will get it right if you get confused, but it will save you a lot of time if you remember correctly which way is to the Boss. When BALRON falls, head up the corridor to the Boss. If you walk for more that 5 minutes, turn around and walk for 5 minutes or a bit more. He is here, and you must find him. + + + + + + + + + + + + + DEMON KING + + + + + + + + + + + + + Sorry to disappoint you, but this Boss is EASY! Like in NO CHALLENGE. The Face with 3-armed tentacles is despicably easy to finish off. Like a real King. He has the power of authority and surrounds himself with strong warriors, but he is a weak softie. This is a big letdown for the game. BALRON was harder than this guy. Simple Tactics. Critical Plusses, Strength, and the Warrior Bow. No sooner do you get 1-2 arrows into him and he starts screaming for help. You're your distance and keep firing as soon as the strength meter reaches maximum and he will NEVER touch you, never try to hit you. It is that easy. He goes down and the game ends. You are given the option to save. Take it, Save, and when you restart the game, you will appear at the top of the Tower. You can now walkthrough the entire Tower and clean up all those loose ends you left alive. CREATURES IN SHADOW TOWER Shadow Tower Creatures By World Human 1 Acid Slime 2 Blood Slime 3 Dark Spider 4 Demon Bat 5 Skeleton 6 Tongue Imp 7 Shadow Spider 8 Fat Mole 9 Guardian Earth 10 Fanged Worm 11 Parasite 12 Casket 13 Acid Slime 14 Blood Skull 15 Watcher Plant 16 Elder 17 Minor Dwarf 18 Dwarfling 19 Imp 20 Auriel (Doll) 21 Star Serpent 22 Barrel Snail 23 Tondrom 24 Myconid 25 Beak Plant 26 Duhrin 27 Hanging Dead 28 Wingsect 29 Trickster 30 Dwarf Warrior 31 Auriel (Demoness) 32 Blue Flicker 33 Sand Leech (Sm.) 34 Sand Leech (Lg.) 35 Acid Pod 36 Kiljoy 37 Cocoon Plant 38 Torg 39 Dybbuk 40 Sloth Bug 41 Clay Servant 42 Hobble Worm 43 Crying Root 44 Earth Knight 45 Cannon Snail 46 Ray Plant 47 Black Onyx 48 Dread Knight (BOSS) Fire 49 Fire Jinn 50 Armored Jinn 51 Jinn Lord 52 Berzerker 53 Iron Crusher 54 Mystic Tower 55 Abraxus 56 Horned Skull 57 Steel Servant 58 Arachness 59 Bone Demon 60 Zygote 61 Cerberus 62 Ruby Demon 63 Ebony Knight (BOSS) 64 Damned Angle Water 65 Dementor 66 Dweller 67 Horned Slime 68 Akryal 69 Blood Brain 70 Worm Face 71 Hatchlin 72 Kabasaur 73 Water Knight 74 Great Frog 75 Gaze Hopper 76 Slashers 77 Manna Python 78 Koazul 79 Winged Worm 80 Dragon Turtle 81 Magi Magus (BOSS) Illusion 82 Red Puppet 83 Blue Puppet 84 Dark Imp 85 Black Imp 86 Dark Bishop 87 Dark Fairy 88 Ring Demon 89 Deha 90 Maristella 91 Gorgoral 92 Gargaral 93 Gordoral 94 Demon Warrior 95 Death Mage 96 Rotting Face 97 War Demon (Red) 98 War Demon (Blue) 99 Gorthaur 100 Master Knight 101 Warpoor 102 Willowess 103 Foster 104 Crossbrood 105 Dark Spirits 106 Disguise (BOSS) Beast 107 Lizard Servant 108 Night Howler 109 Chirper 110 Master Howler 111 Saurian Soldier (Green) 112 Saurian Warrior (Red) 113 Dinogon 114 Hermit Crab 115 Freak 116 Oblid 117 Warden 118 King Hopper 119 Cursed Demon 120 Oxelus 121 Wyvern 122 Death Serpent 123 Necron (BOSS) Death 124 Armored Guardian 125 Armored Warrior 126 Armored Slayer 127 Hell Hunter 128 Karasu 129 Tree Ogre 130 King Edward 131 Claw Head 132 Demons Eye 133 Pulsating Heart 134 Panak 135 Stack Eyes 136 Nyet 137 Amon 138 Apocrypha 139 Descrypha 140 Wizcrypha 141 Bugler 142 Old Face 143 Doriwi 144 Hell Warrior 145 Bone Wolf 146 Blood Bone 147 Hallow Mage 148 Balron (Armored) 149 Balron (Non-Armored) 150 Demon King ================ =Special Thanks= ================ Of all the thank you's for this project to go out, first and foremost to From Software for bringing another first person RPG to the states and second for ASCII/Agetec (pronounced Age-Tec) for distributing it. I hear RPG Maker is on its way and King's Field IV is due later in the year for the PS2. This is my favorite type of RPG and I am indebted to them for providing these for my personal entertainment. Thirdly, I'd like to thank the people posting to the Agetec Messageboard and to my new friends at the Verdite Inn in Yahoo land. It makes all the difference in the world to find people who like the games you do even though most reviewers who want "the next bigger, better, more technological adrenaline fix in the first hour of game play" to sate their entertainment appetites bash the heck out of those games you love. And lastly, for the same reason in #2, just because it doesn't stack up to most people's tastes, doesn't mean it is a bad game. I believe the commonly used word was 'dreck'. This game had many of it's own merits and I will be the first to speak of the many problems with Shadow Tower, including a weak ending. But to those who can understand this and judge a game on its own merits (and de-merits), a heartfelt thank you for your support, fairness and intelligence.