Steve's Guide to Planescape: Torment
Last updated: 7th August, 2001
Introduction
Planescape: Torment is a brilliant fantasy computer role-playing game set in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons™ Planescape multiverse. You take on the role of The Nameless One, a formidable being - yet unaware of who you are, and how you happened to awake on a cold metal slab in a surreal mortuary... shades of Gene Wolfe!
Conventions
Once again, I've chosen to eschew that handy yet game spoiling Table of Contents. OK, so this Guide is loaded with outright spoilers anyway, but I try not to ruin all the fun right up front by providing you with a listing of all the important locations you will visit. If you're looking for references to a particular location, person, weapon, etc., then just search for it in your browser.
At the bottom of this guide are handy tables for locating important items and people.
Directions are given assuming that the top of your screen is north, and the longer direction names are abbreviated, like SW for southwest. If more precision is needed, then positions on a clock face are used, like: 10 o'clock.
Tips
Before you even think about starting to play, download and apply the latest patch, which at the time of writing was the version 1.1 patch. This patch fixed numerous bugs, and also gets rid of the problem where the game slows down terribly after about an hour's play.
The Nameless One (TNO hereafter), begins life as a Fighter. Later on, just by conversing with various NPCs, TNO can change roles to be a Thief or a Mage. While the idea of switching back and forth throughout the game to overcome various obstacles that suit tackling by a particular class of character seems a clever one, this course of action is probably best avoided. You see, experience points (XP) accrue only for the present class. If you keep switching between classes, you'll dilute the XP across the board, and will never obtain real proficiency in anything. So, it's best to choose your preferred role early on in the game and stick with it!
Balance, balance, this game is all about balance. When creating your character at the beginning of the game, it's probably best to load up your primary stat just a little bit. For instance, Strength (STR) for a Fighter. But... I wouldn't recommend going above 15 on any stat. As far as TNO is concerned, all stats are important! Intelligence (INT) gives you more conversation choices, and it will be easier to talk your way around things rather than having to fight all the time. TNO has lost his memory, and a high Wisdom (WIS) helps him to regain more memories. Dexterity (DEX) is useful for thieving skills, but is also important as it lowers your Armor Class (AC), making you harder to hit in battle, and so forth. The first time I played, I wanted TNO to be a Mage, so I set INT to 15. Of course, I had to skimp elsewhere, and only wound up with a Constitution (CON) of 11. I suffered the consequences of this decision for nearly the entire game, being easier to knock off than a fat guppy in a tank full of piranhas :-( Each time your character goes up a level, you get to spend 1 point on one of these characteristics, so you can eventually rectify mistakes; however, it is better in the long run to start off with a balanced character, and gradually build up all the stats.
Talk to every character that exhibits a blue circle when you place your cursor over them, especially the zombie workers and skeletons in the Mortuary. This is the primary way by which you discover things, get quests, etc.
It's probably a good idea to turn off the Party AI. You'll have better control of your party members in battle then. For example, with the AI turned on, any Priests in your party will be constantly wading right into the thick of things to heal someone who only just got a scratch, thereby placing themselves in great peril. Also, the space bar is your best friend in battle! With it, you can pause at any time, issue commands for all your party members, swap items, use healing aids, etc. Then just hit the space bar again when you're ready to resume. It's the next best thing to turn-based combat :-)
During battle, I always micro-manage my party. Before you even engage the enemy, hit the space bar straight away. Then, assign each of your Fighters to attack a specific creature. To do this, click on the party member you want to use, then hold down the shift key and click on the creature you want them to attack. Repeat for each Fighter. You might also at this time organise each Mage to fire off their first spell at a specific target. Then, hit the space bar again to let the battle commence. When you kill any creature, hit the space bar right away and immediately re-assign your now idle Fighter to go beat up on something else! This way, you make sure your resources are always efficiently employed. Whenever you notice any of your party members getting low on health, hit the space bar quickly, and get them healed (you can keep all your healing charms of a similar type grouped together, and just pass these groups of charms around from party member to party member as the need arises)! Of course, it goes without saying that you should keep your Fighters up front, and your Mages pretty far behind so they can keep firing off spells without fear of being attacked.
Another warning about dilution of XP. Remember that you split any XP gained amongst all the members of your party. While having a bigger party is more fun, it definitely makes the going tougher, as characters will gain new levels at a much slower rate.
Whenever a new person joins your party, engage them in conversation at the earliest opportunity, and grill them about everything. You learn a lot of new things this way, and sometimes acquire valuable items.
After a tough battle, if you've a Priest in your party, get all the party members healed as much as you can with the Priest's remaining healing spells... then you can rest. Using this technique, you'll need to spend much less time resting in order to get your party fully healed, and the Priest will regain all the healing spells after the first 8 hour's rest!
Note that when you or your party members use Thief skills to steal something, you can't subsequently sell it to anyone because all the merchants will know it's stolen goods. So, don't bother to steal anything you're not going to use.
The best way to identify items is with Charms of Infinite Recall. Just wait till you have at least a half dozen items that need to be identified (doing only 1 or 2 at a time is a waste), and make sure they're all in a single party member's inventory. Then, put one (or more. Only one will be used) of these Charms in an empty Quick Item slot of that party member, return to the game world, right-click and select the Charm(s). You'll note the person becoming infused with light. When you return to that person's inventory, all the items are now identified! You can also equip each of your Mages with an Identify scroll, but then only one item per day/per Mage can be identified. Much more tedious. You can buy or find these Charms all over the place, so what the heck.
An easy way to move across a large area that you've already seen: select all party members, then open up the map. Click once to get a yellow square around the section you wish to travel to. Then, double-click on the square and you'll be back in the game world, positioned right at the place you want to wind up. Just hold down the shift key, click once more on the ground here (or a doorway), and your party will run straight over to where you clicked.
Some thoughts concerning Wisdom
I could never figure out how, according to the manual and the in-game help, increased WIS got you more experience points, because you always get the same XP for completing a given quest regardless of your WIS. Well, I finally did find out by playing a portion of the game through with a high WIS (to the detriment of several other stats, of course), and the way WIS plays its part in gaining XP is this: whenever your party splits XP, you get the same as everyone else plus an additional bonus according to your WIS. There is roughly a 20% bonus for you at WIS of 20, and a whopping 35% at a WIS of 25!
Unfortunately, this Guide was written before I had twigged the nuances of Wisdom, and I played all the way through the game (twice!) with just slightly above average WIS. What a high WIS ultimately does for you is ensure that you attain new levels at a much faster rate than your companions, thus making it much easier to complete quests and do battle, as TNO will have higher stats all around. Anyway, in retrospect, I would recommend that if you need to have any stat as your 'secondary' stat, then it should be WIS!Well, that's probably enough of the up front stuff. Time to wade right in...
The Mortuary
2nd floor
Morte, the indefatigable skull, is hovering near you when you stir back to life on the mortuary slab. There's some writing on your back. Hmm. So, we need to find this guy Pharod, and your journal. Get the Scalpel and some Bandages from the tables in the northern part of the room, arm yourself with the Scalpel, then attack the southern-most zombie in the room. Take the key off him, then proceed through the door in the NW corner. You could kill the other 2 zombies, but they're only worth 65 XP each. Note that the key disappears from your inventory when you go through the door. This is the game's way of telling you that you won't be needing it any longer. Get used to losing items like this, because it happens a lot, and you don't want to be wasting time looking for items that you think you have lost, but you haven't!
The next room holds 3 zombies, and little else of interest for the moment. So just head through the next door. This is more interesting. Pick up the Fist Irons, the Receiving Room Logbook, and some jink (er, Coppers) from the tables here. Note that the last page is missing from the Logbook. I suspect that has something to do with you. Talk to zombie worker #1201 here. You notice something in his mouth and cut it out with your Scalpel, for 250 XP. Use the Note, and fold the corners in this order: upper right, lower right, upper left, upper right again (marks corresponding to the number of this zombie). The Note dissolves, and you are left holding a Triangle Earring, which you can't identify yet (it's actually a 'Rule-of-Three Earring', as you'll later discover), but solving this puzzle nets you another 250 XP. Also, chat with the scribe Dhall in the south end of this room. You have been here many times before. It seems as if Dhall might have ripped the last page out of the Logbook, so that the Dustmen would not discover who or what you are and have you cremated! From now on, whenever a Dustman approaches you and asks you what you are doing in the Mortuary, you can just mention Dhall's name to get rid of them.
Again, proceeding clockwise, the next room doesn't have much of anything noteworthy in it, except a Receiving Log Page that you get from zombie #1664 there, which has an entry numbered 16539 that looks suspiciously like TNO/you! Reading more, it looks like we'll have to locate this Copper Earring, and also zombie #79, who might give us a clue on how to interpret the markings on the Earring.
Things start to get even more interesting in the next room (let's say at 2 o'clock on the Mortuary - 2nd floor map). If you accidentally topple over zombie #985, you get a new weapon. Also, speak to the Dustwoman Ei-Vene to get Quest 3 below, the first one you can immediately carry out :-)
3rd floor
The Finger Bone that activates the secret portal (see Quest 4 below) is located in a locked container on the 3rd floor, in the room at the 12 o'clock position. It doubles as a Bone Charm - but of course, don't use yet, or you won't be able to activate the portal!
Skeleton #863, in the room at 10 o'clock, has a Parchment attached to him. The note on the Parchment alludes to there being a Prybar somewhere on this floor. Indeed, there's one on a table in the room at 6 o'clock on this floor.
The stairwell on the west side of this floor is locked. The key to open this door is located on a shelf on the SE part of the stairwell wall. Indeed, once you have this Mortuary Sanctum Key in your possession, all the remaining locked doors in the Mortuary will be open to you!
The room to the south contains 3 zombies. Examine zombie #79, and you'll be able to open that Ancient Copper Earring you've been carrying around (250 XP).
Zombie #42 is wandering continuously in a big circle around the central part of the 3rd floor. If you've recalled the memory of him (see Quest 3), and you cross your arms, he'll put his arms at his side. You can then reach inside him and pull out the package that's stitched into him (250 XP). Inside it are 2 Clot Charms, some Rags, and a Green Steel Knife! Looks like TNO knew he might be coming back here again.
1st floor
There are 4 Giant Skeletons in the central room of this floor. They are much too difficult for you and Morte to take on at this stage in the game, but... there is another way. If you get the Tome of Bone and Ash off zombie #932 in the room to the SE, it will give you the knowledge necessary to dissect the Giant Skeletons! First, you have to examine each Skeleton's armor, then you have to compare the runes on it to the runes in the Tome. Then you have to remove the wards in the correct order. Worth 800 XP per Giant Skeleton, plus 3 of the Skeletons leave behind a Rune of Lesser Warding (invokes "Armor") and one has a Rune of Greater Warding (invokes "Shield"), though all of these are only usable by Mages.
Also in this room, on the wall to the north, is a Crescent Hatchet. The Skeletons don't seem to mind if you take it.Near the exit from the Mortuary, in the room to the SW, speak to Soego. He will open the gate for you for 500 XP (you can exit here instead of using the portal. You still come out at roughly the same place). Alternatively, you can snap the neck of one of the other Dustmen here, and take the key off their corpse, but this is bad for your karma, especially if you're attempting to keep your alignment leaning towards the Good side.
Converse with the spirit of Deionarra, in the room to the NW. She... once meant a lot to you. You should get 1000 XP for recalling a memory of how you can raise the dead (plus, it now becomes one of your Special Abilities). You also get 500 XP for her telling you about the exit portal, even though you might have already heard it from Vaxis.
After speaking to her, if you've got the Bone Charm in your inventory, you may use the portal that opens up when you approach one of the openings in the northern part of this room!Quests
- Find "Pharod". This... might take a little while. Let's not spoil things just yet.
- Find your missing journal. Ditto.
- Fetch Embalming Fluid and Needle for Ei-Vene - Embalming Room Key, +1 HP, and 750 XP. There are 2 jars of Embalming Fluid in the room at 4 o'clock on this floor. Also in this room is a locked container. You can bash it open with your newly found club. Inside is that (Ancient) Copper Earring mentioned in the Receiving Log Page. Take the stairs up to the 3rd floor here (on the shelf at the top of the stairs is a Charcoal Charm). Then, go inside the room to the north and head for the shelf on the wall to the NW. There is a Needle and Thread there. Remember, when the Dustmen accost you, say you are looking for someone (Dhall). Once you have secured the Needle and Thread, return to Ei-Vene. Before you get her attention this time, notice the motion of her hands. You recall your first memory, about stitching something inside zombie #42, and get 250 XP. Then give her the Embalming Fluid, Needle and Thread (250 XP), and hold still while she stitches you up. You get a permanent +1 to your HP for this. Finally ask her for the Embalming Room Key (250 XP). Now you may complete Quest 4.
- Fetch Embalming Key for Vaxis - Location of portal and 500 XP. Zombie #821 in the room to the south of where Ei-Vene is located... is actually not a zombie at all. Rather, his name is Vaxis, and he's disguised as a zombie. If you complete Quest 3, Ei-Vene will give you the Embalming Room Key. Once you give this Key to Vaxis, he'll offer to disguise you as a zombie too. For this, you'll need to give him some Embalming Fluid, Needle and Thread. You get 500 XP for doing this, but I'm not sure it's worth it. For one, you blow the disguise if you forget you have it on and try to run or arm a weapon. And secondly, you already have a way to get by the Dustmen, using Dhall's name. However, 500 XP early on in the game is not something to scoff at. Your call.
More importantly, Vaxis tells you about a secret portal located in the NW room on the 1st floor. You need to find a Finger Bone on the 3rd floor to activate the portal...
The Hive - Northeast region
If you exited the Mortuary via the portal, then you wind up in a small tomb. There's a Note from someone named Penn. He apparently hired Vaxis to see what was going on inside the Mortuary. Also, 30 Coppers with the Note. Handy. Head south from the tomb, and enter the small house to the east there. This is Angyar's house, the subject of Quest 1 below.
If you exited the Mortuary by the front door instead, then you can make your way to the tomb by just heading south once you exit the Mortuary grounds. The tomb is set into a wall to the east. Collect the stuff from the tomb, then make your way to Angyar's house as above.Pretend to be dead for Pox, just outside the Mortuary front gate, for 500 XP.
You can learn to converse with a Dabus for 500 XP.
You'll probably bump into Annah in your travels. She's a wee lassie with a mean Scottish accent and attitude to spare. Hmm. I wonder if you can get her to join your party somehow...
The Hive at night is not a nice place to be. You'll want to be finding a place to bed down, else be prepared to fight a lot of thugs.
One of the entrances to the Alley of Dangerous Angles is located in the SW corner of this region. See section on the Alley below.
Quests
- Free Angyar from his Dead Contract and return it to him and his wife - 750 XP, and a free place to rest from now on! Talk to Wife-of-Angyar, not Angyar himself! You'll get this quest which may be solved by locating Gravesend in the Gathering Dust bar (she gives you some confusing directions, it's actually due west of Angyar's place). Once you locate Mortai Gravesend, there are 3 ways you can obtain the Contract:
Once you've obtained the Contract by whatever means, return it to Wife-of-Angyar. She'll ask you to show him the Contract, but not tell him how you got it back. Tear up the Contract right there in front of him, and he and the wife are eternally grateful to you (a place to rest for free from now on).
- Shame him into just giving you the Contract back, by convincing him that it's morally wrong to hold such a Contract. This is the cleanest way.
- Have him fetch the Contract and kill him for it, but this is the extremely messy way. Everyone in the bar will attack you.
- Have him fetch the Contract and steal it from him. Obviously, either you or someone in your party must be a Thief in order to make this option possible.
- Look into the matter of the mausoleum's walking dead - 1000 XP plus 200 Coppers. Talk to Norochj in the Gathering Dust bar. He'll tell you about a mausoleum to the north that is accessible via a portal. Sure enough, when you approach the entrance to the building just north of the Dustman Monument, a portal materialises. When you step through it, a spirit appears immediately you are inside. See Quest 8 for further details.
- Find the "source" of Pharod's bodies for Emoric - 2500 XP and 300 coppers. Talk to Emoric in the Gathering Dust bar, and convince him that you want to join the Dustmen faction. You'll get this quest when you bring up the topic of Pharod (of course, you'll have to find Pharod in order to complete this quest). Also, you'll get Quest 4.
- Talk to Norochj for Emoric, and do what Norochj asks of you - Quest 6. Norochj gives you Quest 5. When you have completed it, return to Emorich again, and you will get Quest 6.
- Speak to Awaiting Death on behalf of Emoric - 500 XP and Quest 7. You can kill yourself for the benefit of Awaiting-Death. You get 250 XP for this, and he gets a fresh outlook on life. When you report back to Emoric, you get an additional 250 XP.
- Speak to Sere on behalf of Emoric - 1000 XP and Quest 12. Soothe Sere the Skeptic concerning her misplaced faith for 500 XP. When you report back to Emoric, you get an additional 500 XP.
- Track down a thief disguised as a Dustman - 1500 XP and 200 Coppers. The person you seek is named Ash-Mantle, and is hanging about in the SW region of the Hive. Speak with him, but don't accuse him of being a thief outright or you'll scare him off. As you make to leave, you'll notice him trying to pick your pocket. Allow him to do so, observing his technique (750 of the above XP). Then, try to grab his hand. Once you've scared him off, you can return to Norochj and claim your reward.
- Defeat the intruder in the Mausoleum for the Guardian Spirit - 1000 XP. Once inside the mausoleum, if you assure the Guardian Spirit that you are there to help, he'll let you pass. Now, you can explore the entire mausoleum, killing all the undead that attack you, or you can head right for the centre of the action. To do this, make an immediate right, and just keep heading south. First, a word of caution: if it's early on in the game, it's best to let Morte fight all the battles. He's got a much lower AC than you. Just give him all the Bandages and Clot Charms, stand back, and let him have a go! Anyway, keep heading south and west and you'll reach a part of the path that's guarded by a Giant Skeleton. Once past the Giant Skeleton, you enter a room that contains an evil necromancer (really, is there any other kind?) and his skeleton henchmen. Just sic Morte on him. Once he's dead, all his skeletons immediately collapse into harmless piles of bones and the struggle is over. There's a good haul of scrolls here, a Magus Guard, and a magical Bone Dagger... and be sure to read Strahan's Diary for a laugh! The Guardian Spirit rewards you with some XP as soon as you leave the slain Strahan's chamber, but be sure to return to Norochj to collect your reward for completing Quest 2.
- Find a way to help Ingress - 750 Xp and Ingress' teeth! Ingress is wandering around just to the NW of the Dustman Monument. She's a distraught woman, having come through a portal over 30 years ago, and not being able to find the portal to take her back. She's even afraid to walk through any doorway or arch lest she be accidentally teleported! You need to seek out the fellow named Candrian in the Smoldering Corpse bar, SE region of the Hive. He offers to help Ingress, and also gives you a Negative Token (to ward off the undead). Go speak to Ingress again, and then return to Candrian once more to collect your reward.
- Find Craddock for Baen the Sender - 500 XP plus 45 coppers. Baen the Sender is wandering around just to the north of the Gathering Dust bar. He asks you to find this man Craddock... somewhere in the Hive. Craddock is located in the marketplace, SW region of the Hive.
- Help Sev'Tai get her revenge - 250 XP and Copper Earring. Sev'Tai, a Tiefling woman, is standing inside the Dustman Monument. Her 3 sisters were murdered by a Chaosmen gang who call themselves "Starved Dogs Barking". This gang hangs out in the SE region of the Hive. Just kill 3 of them, and return to Sev'Tai. Note: in order to join the Chaosmen faction, you need to speak (bark?) with Barking-Wilder, who hangs around outside the Smoldering Corpse bar, on the east side of it. You have to be of Chaotic alignment in order to pull this off, so don't even bother trying if you're playing a goody two-shoes type.
- Find Soego for Emoric - 2500 XP and invitation to join the Dustmen faction. You must complete Quest 6 first. As your final quest on the way to becoming an initiate of the Dustman faction, Emoric wll ask you to locate Soego, whom you first met in the Mortuary. Once you've completed this quest (I can't tell you how just yet), Emoric will invite you to join their faction. Hmm. I think some of the other factions provide greater benefits when you join. But if you always wanted to be a Dusty...
The Hive - Northwest region
Arlo's flophouse is located just to the west of the gate leading to the NE region. You can kip here for the night for only 5 Coppers.
Quests
- Deliver box to Ku'atraa - 250 XP and Quest 2. A young man by the name of Mar is standing just to the south of Arlo's flophouse. He'll give you a box, tell you not to open it, and to deliver it to a man in the SE part of the Hive. Of course, if you do open the box... out comes a hideous fiend. You can kill the fiend, and he leaves behind a Blood Dagger. It's a good weapon, but unfortunately it's also cursed. Once you arm yourself with it, you go berserk in battle and lose all control of your character. In order to get rid of it, you need to find someone who can cast Remove Curse (like, Mebbeth in Ragpicker's Square). Anyway, what you should do to complete the quest is first locate Ku'atraa in the warehouse, SE region of the Hive. He'll have nothing to do with the box, runs screaming from the warehouse, but suggests that you take the box to "Brasken" in the SW region of the Hive.
- Deliver box to Brasken - 250 XP and Quest 3. Ku'atraa asks you to deliver the box to Brasken, whose house is located on the western edge of the SW region of the Hive. The door to his place is more like a portcullis (bars). When you deliver the box to him, he tells you a bit more about the history of the box, then suggests you take it to Shilandra. I feel a Fed-Ex coming on...
- Deliver box to Shilandra - 250 XP and Quest 4. Shilandra's place is located in the far NE corner of the NE region of the Hive. She then sends you to the burnt-out cathedral in the Alley of Dangerous Angles.
- Go to cathedral located at the center of the Hive - 1000 XP. Finally... Aola in the burnt-out cathedral (east side of Alley of Dangerous Angles, search carefully, in the middle of the burnt-out out building, for the entrance to the cathedral) will vanquish the fiend in Morodor's box! If you feel like living dangerously, you can ask Aola to make you a disciple of 'Aoskar'. If you choose to become a disciple, you incur the wrath of the Lady of Pain... immediately you leave the Alley, the Lady appears and sends you into the Player's Maze (see section on this below). You can return Moridor's box to Aola after you escape from the Maze... that is, if you escape from the Maze :-)
Anyway, once you've got rid of the box, you get Quest 5.- Talk to Mar about the box - 1250 XP and 500 coppers, plus Hollow Axe! Finally, things come full circle with this seemingly interminable Moridor's box quest! Mar has moved from his original position to the south of Arlo's flophouse, and is now hiding in the stone arbour to the NW of the flophouse. Let him try to explain the situation to you, then gracefully accept all the goodies he hands over.
- Find Nestor's fork - 500 XP and Obsidian Earring. Nestor is the distressed guy inside Arlo's flophouse. Looks like he needs his fork to go through a portal, and someone has taken it from him. That someone is a big, dumb berk by the name o' One-Ear, who is hanging out just to the NW of Arlo's Flophouse.
- Retrieve Porphiron's necklace - 1000 XP plus weapons training. Porphiron is standing just to the north of Arlo's flophouse. The thieves that took his necklace are to be found just to the west of the Smoldering Corpse bar in the SE region of the Hive. After you get the necklace back, Porphiron will train you in all weapon categories (amount of proficiency attainable subject to the level you have attained as a Fighter).
The Hive - Southwest region
Another entrance to the Alley of Dangerous Angles is in the NE part of this region. See section on the Alley below.
The Office of Vermin and Disease Control is the large building roughly in the centre of this region. If you talk to Phineas T. Lort inside, he'll eventually bore you to death (good place to rest for free). If you can pickpocket Phineas, his key opens the locked cellar door. There's a Wererat in the cellar. Watch it, they're only susceptible to magical weapons! The locked chest down there contains, amongst other things, a Charm of Infinite Recall (allows you to identify magical items).
Quests
- Find Jhelai for Craddock - 750 XP and 30 coppers. Once you find Craddock for Baen the Sender (see The Hive - NE region, Quest 10), in the marketplace here, Craddock asks you to find Jhelai. The man is located just south of the Smoldering Corpse bar, in the SE region. You get 250 XP just for finding Jhelai, but he won't go back to work for Craddock. Return to Craddock, and offer to fill in for Jhelai.
- Remove Reekwind's "curse of stench" - 5000 XP, and some interesting tales penned into your journal. Phew! Reekwind is standing just NE of the marketplace here. If you pay him 3 coppers and listen to his story, you'll get this quest. Looks like you can just get a Mage to cast 'Remove Curse' on the poor bugger, but the solution to this quest is far more complicated than that, and it's far away from here that you'll find it!
- Find a tombstone for the Crier of Es-Annon - 1000 XP. The Crier is wandering around on the west side of this region. Engage him in conversation, then mention that a tombstone might serve all the Criers' needs better than the present method of remembering their lost city. Go to the Dustman Monument in the NE region of the Hive, and tell Death-of-Names that you want to bury a name... Es-Annon, of course (500 XP for this). Then return to the Crier and tell him what you've accomplished.
The Hive - Southeast region
Mourns-for-Trees is... mourning for the trees in the northern part of this region. 500 XP for offering to mourn along with him. If you can get at least 2 more of your party to agree to mourn for the trees, it's another 500 XP.
In the Smoldering Corpse bar, talk to 'O', and add +1 to Wisdom! Also, you can get Dak'kon to join your party for 1000 XP... and perhaps Ignus too, if you can find the means :-) Talk to Barkus, the owner. For 500 coppers (300 with decent CHR), Barkus will give you your old eye back. You recall some memories with this eye, plus gain some weapon proficiencies and 1000 XP.
Dak'kon can teach you much, but you have to become a Mage first. He can transform you into one. Then, tell him you want to learn the Way of Zerthimon. He opens up the first Circle on his circular stone artefact. Curiously, in order to use/read it, you have to access it in his inventory. I'll tell you, that one had me stumped for a while! Anyway, there are 6 Circles to read on the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon. They require progressive levels of Wisdom in order to comprehend what you are reading (by the way, Fell's tattoo parlour, mentioned just below, is a great source for tattoos to increase your WIS :-) Here's what you get upon completing each Circle to Dak'kon's satisfaction:
1st Circle (requires WIS 12) - 300 XP
2nd Circle (requires WIS 13) - 600 XP and 'Scripture of Steel' spell
3rd Circle (requires WIS 14) - 900 XP and 'Submerge the Will' spell
4th Circle (requires WIS 15) - 1500 XP and 'Vilquar's Eye' spell
5th Circle (requires WIS 16) - 3000 XP and 'Power of One' spell
6th Circle (requires WIS 18) - 5000 XP and 2 x 'Balance in All Things' spell (one for Dak'kon!)
You're probably familiar with all of them bar the last one. That's because Dak'kon never mastered the 6th Circle himself (you beat him too it)! Balance in All Things is fairly handy. When struck by an opponent and you take damage, the same amount of damage is meted out to all foes in a 10 ft. radius. Well, you'd think there'd be no more Circles after that, but you'd be wrong! Examine the Unbroken Circle again, and you should be able to unlock the 7th Circle for 3000 XP more. Then, you get 2 copies of the spell Missile of Patience, for another 5000 XP. Gee, I think you're milking this for all it's worth. I didn't stick around as a Mage for long enough to determine what Missile of Patience gets you... but I did up my WIS by one more to 19 in order to see if I could take the Unbroken Circle any further. Indeed, you can unlock the 8th Circle for 6000 XP. Once you learn the 8th Circle, you get 10000 XP for yourself and Dak'kon, another 10000 XP split amongst your party, plus 2 Scrolls of Zerthimon's Focus (chances for a Critical Attack are raised for 5 seconds per level of the caster)! Not only that, but Dak'kon gets a permanent boost to the following stats: +1 STR, + 2 DEX, and +2 CON :-)
Well, that's about as far as you can take the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon, but it hasn't been a bad journey, has it?Fell's tattoo parlour, on the east side of this region, is an absolute boon to your stats, but it's gonna cost ya! All the good tattoos - ones that raise your primary stats by 2 - cost 1200 coppers each. You only have room to wear 3 tattoos on your person, so choose wisely. Note: when you return here later with a special item, have one of your party members translate for you. Fell will recall tattoos that he had long since forgotten how to execute, and they will then be available for you to purchase. Another note: you can, and should return to Fell's often. Depending on what you've experienced so far in the game, Fell will usually have a few new tattoos for sale that are based on these particular experiences. Remember also to pick up a few tattoos for your companions. It's worth it.
Quests
- Resolve a bar tab - 1000 XP. At the east side of the Smoldering Corpse bar, the woman Mochai is masquerading as a Dustman (seems like a popular pre-occupation). For 100 coppers, you can settle her tab with Barkus, the owner.
The Hive - Alley of Dangerous Angles
Though it grates on you, it's probably best to pay the 10 coppers to grant yourself safe passage, else you'll just wind up fighting the entire way through the Alley, and will only be able to get Quest 4 below.
Periodically, some members of the 2 gangs will have a go at each other. Let them at it. Easier for you to just pick up the pieces afterwards!
Quests
- Krystall wants Rotten William dead - 1500 XP, no more toll for Alley, Quest 3. Krystall is the leader of the Razor Angels. She's standing in the NW corner of the Alley. Rotten William hangs out in the SE corner. If you take Rotten William out for Krystall, you of course won't be able to get Quest 2. Rotten William has 300 coppers on him, so this fact might influence your decision!
- Rotten William wants Krystall dead - 1500 XP, plus request to deal with Blackrose. Rotten William is the leader of the Darkalley Shivs. He's standing in the SE corner of the Alley. Krystall is located in the NW corner. If you take Krystall out for Rotten William, you of course won't be able to get Quest 1.
- Krystall wants Blackrose dead - 1500 XP and 700 coppers. Blackrose is located in the burnt-out building just east of where Krystall hangs out. He questions you about your alignment. If you say you stand for good, he'll ask you to kill Rotten William (1500 XP). If you've already killed Rotten William, Blackrose will ask you to kill Krystall, to restore "balance" to the Alley. Anyway, all these quests are kinda circular! If you kill any 2 of them, you'll net 3000 XP, plus varying amounts of copper.
- Rauk needs you to fetch 3 rings from his tent - Scrolls (Armor, Fist of Iron, Identify!), Ring of the Traveler, Green Steel Dagger. The intellectually challenged Rauk, along with 5 Mages-in-Training, are located in the burnt-out building in the very south of the Alley. He's forgotten to bring rings for the Mages, so they can't train. You're looking for a Bronze, a Silver, and a Gold Ring. Strictly speaking, they're not all in Rauk's tent; rather, you can get the Bronze one off most any dead gang member, the Silver is in Rotten William's tent under some slats near the stove, and the Gold is hidden in a bed in Krystall's tent. When you return the Rings to Rauk, the mages use them to conjure... a killer lim-lim?! It slaughters all the mages, leaving you to round up the spoils. Whatever you do, don't kick the lim-lim. It will then attack you, is very difficult to defeat, and only nets you 130 XP for killing it! Also, it's Rauk's new-found 'friend', and he'll attack you if you hurt the lim-lim. Go figure.
Player's Maze
In the NE part of the maze, you'll find a pile of bones near an abandoned campfire. The ashes of the campfire contain a Journal, and a Sledgehammer that turns out to be a valuable enchanted weapon (Brimstone Hammer). The journal, left by yourself in a previous incarnation, contains a clue about how to get the hell out of here: "maybe I should go through one, THEN walk back to the same portal without..." (let me finish the sentence) "going through any other portal". Right. Go through the portal at 4 o'clock on the map, then head back to that same portal without going through any other portal. When you go through this portal the second time, you wind up at the portal at 7 o'clock. Exit the maze through this portal (you actually have no other choice once you get here).
The Hive - Ragpicker's Square
You get here from the NW region of the Hive.
Just to the north of where you enter, a hideous creature named Marrow-Friend is lurking there in an alley. Allow him to take a bite of you(!) in exchange for the finger bone hanging from his neck. Once you have it, bite off your own finger, and replace it with this finger bone. A ring drops off the finger, and you can now choose to wear Mempa's Biting Ring. The item is cursed, but it never seems to do TNO any harm, and it adds +2 to his Armor Class!
Just to the west of where Marrow-Friend hangs out, there's a door into a house. Once you open the door, a portal appears. If you go inside the house via the portal... there's no apparent way out. Wait a while until a character named Vlask appears with 2 henchmen. You can either pay him 100 coppers for a glass bead that activates the exit portal, or kill them for it.
Old Mebbeth's place is the big round house in the south part of the Square (the midwife's hut on your map). She'll heal you and your party members for free, and you can rest here. She's also got a lot of nice things for sale, including a handy Scroll of Remove Curse, and a Divine Censer.
Ratbone is standing outside Sharegrave's kip, in the SE of the Square. He'll train you as a Thief for 50 coppers. Also, go on inside and talk to Sharegrave. He'll tell you where Pharod is holed up and gives you Quest 1 below.
Quests
- Find out where Pharod's corpses are coming from for the man in Ragpicker's Square - 750 XP and 100 coppers. If you follow the walkway all the way around to the north of the Square, you'll come to an archway that's blocked by rubbish. If you have some Junk on you, you can thrust it into the archway and activate a portal here! This portal leads through another portal, and finally to a door that takes you underground - and so begins your quest to locate Pharod... see section on Trash Warrens next.
- Find Amarysse for Nodd - 750 XP. Nodd is standing just outside of Old Mebbeth's place. Amarysse is the harlot dressed in blue just SE of the entrance to the Smoldering Corpse bar in the SE region of the Hive. She entrusts 100 coppers into your care, to be taken back to Nodd.
- Find a spell ruby for Jarym - 500 XP plus 200 coppers. Jarym's tent is just south of Mebbeth's place. He's looking for a good quality ruby in order that he might complete a spell he's working on. Hey, didn't Moridor's box, the one that Mar gave you, have a ruby in it? If Aola banished the fiend for you, he has the ruby, and you can buy it back off him for 300 coppers (200 with high CHR). Jarym gives you back 200 coppers when you deliver the ruby, so it's not as bad as it seems.
- Learn the ways of the Art from Mebbeth. During the course of your conversation with Mebbeth, ask her if she's a witch. Usually, a question like this would be presumed to cause offence. Hmph. But Mebbeth is keen to teach you if you agree to run some errands for her first. See Quest 5 to get started.
- Find the herbs that Mebbeth needs - 500 XP and Quest 6. Go to the marketplace in the SW region of the Hive, and seek out the merchant who sells seeds. He won't know what to do with the seed that Mebbeth gave you, but Mourn-for-Trees in the SE region does! See Quest 6.
- Find a gardener who has Mebbeth's herbs - 1500 XP and Quest 7. Talk to Mourns-for-Trees in the SE region of the Hive. Then just will the seed to grow, and it'll sprout barbs that wrap around your wrist (500 XP). When you return, Mebbeth gets you to will the barbs from your wrist, and then make them into a frame (a Sadistic one, I should imagine) for another 1000 XP.
- Get Mebbeth's wash from Giscorl - 1000 XP and Quest 8. Another trip back to the marketplace... Giscorl is the merchant in red. 500 XP for picking up the wash from him, and another 500 for bringing it back to Mebbeth.
- Get ink for Mebbeth from Kossah-Jai - 1000 XP and Quest 9. Kossah-Jai is the portly woman in the marketplace, SW region of the Hive. She doesn't have what you're looking for, but she thinks that Meir'am down the road might...
- Find Meir'am, get the ink for Mebbeth - Quest 10. Meir'am is standing on the east side of the Office of Vermin and Disease Control, SW region of the Hive. She has one of these peculiar fish that Kossah-Jai mentioned, but now you need to find a bowl or cup to hold the ink. Argh! If you go back to the marketplace again, you can get a Battered Tankard off the woman in red just to the east of Giscorl. Bring it back to Meir'am, and she'll squeeze the ink out of the fish.
- Deliver ink to Mebbeth - 7000 XP and you become a Mage. Once you've completed all the quests for Mebbeth, you get 2000 XP for committing to be a Mage, plus another 5000 XP after you listen to all her instructions. You also get the following spells: Chromatic Orb, Blood Bridge, Identify - plus a pair of Amber Earrings that add +2 to AC!
The Trash Warrens
You get here using the Junk-activated portal in Ragpicker's Square. Immediately you arrive, a collector accosts you. With high CHR (I had 16 at the time), you can talk your way by the collectors and thugs at the entrance; else, you'll have to fight them.
On the east side of the Trash Warrens is a group of hostile Buried Villagers guarding a portal. The portal leads to a room containing a crate, guarded by a group of cranium rats that are casting spells at you (remember, Phineas T. Lort told you they were dangerous in packs?) There's a pretty good haul in the crate, so it's worth at least sending Morte over to pilfer the contents: 300+ coppers, Scroll of Magic Missiles, Prickly Club (good weapon for Thieves!), Silver Frame (turns out to be a Sadistic Frame that invokes "Pain Mirror"), some Cranium Rat Tails, and a Cranium Rat Charm.
In the SE part of the Warrens, you can talk to Bish. The entrance to the Buried Village is through the trapdoor behind him, and he should let you pass. You net 1200 XP for talking your way through.
Buried Village
Marta the Seamstress' house is located on the west side of the Buried Village. Have her take out your (ugh!) intestines, and you'll get a Twisted Ring for the experience. It adds +1 to Armor Class. You can buy the Teeth of the Viper here for Morte, a pretty nice set of enchanted snappers.
I was never able to get much out of Ojo, even with a CHR of 16. He knows Gris is dead (see Weeping Stone Catacombs), but that's about it.
Quint's Shop is located in the north of the Village. Unlike a lot of other merchants, Quint will buy almost anything from you. Good prices too (he paid me 320 coppers for a Bone Dagger).
Quests
- Recover Ku'u Yin's number from Radine - 2500 XP and Number of Ku'u Yin. Ku'u Yin is standing right in front of Ojo's house. Radine is skulking about to the SW of there. A few trips back and forth between the pair of them will net you the Number (give Radine 30 coppers to ease the pain of losing the number), and Ku'u Yin lets you have his number anyway. It's a wearable tattoo that protects you from chaotic creatures.
- Find and return Uhir's 'lucky knife' - 5000 XP. Uhir is wandering around in the eastern part of the Buried Village. His knife... you will encounter further along in your travels.
- Get bronze sphere for Pharod - 15000 XP... and a surprise addition to your party! Pharod's hide-out is located in the NE part of the Buried Village. Finally, you get the chance to speak with your old 'mentor'. Fetch the bronze sphere. Ah, such an innocent sounding little quest :-) Go to the SE part of the Buried Village. A man named Barr will let you into the Weeping Stone Catacombs, once you mention that Pharod has sent you.
- Get Quint's Poison Charm from the body of Gris - 7500 XP. If you ask Quint about himself, he'll offer you this quest. See section on Gris in Weeping Stone Catacombs for info on how to complete it.
Weeping Stone Catacombs
In the area just to the south and east of where you enter, there are 2 ghouls to defeat. Then, go through the door to the NE there, ('To the Shattered Crypt' on your map), and be prepared to be assaulted by a pack of lesser vargouilles. In the NE of this room, in a pile of bones, lies an extremely valuable weapon - the Punch Daggers of Moorin! (not to mention 500+ coppers in a crate nearby)
In the NW of this same area, there's an entrance to the Crypt of the Embraced. There are some real tough ghouls in here, the toughest one worth 1200 XP. If you have the Special Ability 'Stories-Bones-Tell' (see Dead Nations), you can talk to Gris in the coffin, and he'll tell you about his stash near Ojo's place in the Buried Village. It's supposedly to "the right of Ojo's kip as you face the front door", but I wasn't able to find anything there... unless he means that pile of crates behind Ojo's place. There's a lone crate set into the ground behind the pile that has a Tarnished Silver Bracelet and a Silver Earring in it... but you could get those even before speaking with Gris. Better though, if you've been to see Quint in the Buried Village and he gave you Quest 4, you'll be able to find the Necklace of Hollow Teeth. It's actually just to the south of Marta's shack, near the window with the bent bars. When identified, it turns out to cure you if you've been poisoned. I didn't plan on being poisoned anytime in the near future, so I just took it right back to Quint and got the reward. Funny though... he supposedly hands you a heavy bag of coins in return, yet nothing appeared in my inventory or was added to my total of coppers. A bug, I suspect.
In the NW part of the Catacombs, just before the entrance to the Dismembered Crypt, there's a tomb that contains a 'Claw'. Once identified, this turns out to be a Shamanic Rod. It invokes the spell "Magic Missiles". In the Dismembered Crypt you find... surprise, surprise... a Severed Arm!
When you get a chance later on, take it to Fell's tattoo studio. Have Dak'kon translate for you this time, and ask Fell about the tattoos on this Severed Arm. If you press Dak'kon really hard on this topic, you'll learn about TNO's 4 previous travelling companions. Keep pressing until you get 750 XP, and Dak'kon agrees to talk to you further about this subject only when outside the earshot of Fell. So, go outside and ask Dak'kon about your travels. You should then get the topic about the tattoos on the arm. You learn that one of your previous companions was a blind archer by the name of Xachariah. If you now travel to the 1st floor of the Mortuary (tell them you're there to visit Deionarra to gain entry), you'll find zombie worker #331 all the way to the east on this floor. It's none other than Xachariah! Grill him about everything, and he'll eventually tell you about an object you left inside him for later collection. Initial probing reveals only his liver, but a subsequent probe finds his heart, which is worth a permanent +1 to DEX, and +1 to AC vs. Missile Attacks.The entrance to the Mosaic Crypt is in the NW part of the Catacombs. Careful not to step on any of the grates set into the floor of the crypt, or you'll be zapped by some powerful magic. The sarcophagus here contains an Enchanted Hammer, plus 212 coppers.
In the middle of the Catacombs, there's a stairway infested by a pack of cranium rats. At the bottom of the stairway, hidden in a container, is a Smiling Bottle. This Bottle invokes the spell "Elysium's Tears".
Quests
- Find the Decanter of Endless Water - 5000 XP. Glyve, the face in stone, is located in the passageway leading to the Mosaic Crypt, on the west side of the Catacombs. He'll ask you to find this Decanter, in the Drowned Nations, deep within the Catacombs. Once you've returned the Decanter to Glyve, he'll tell you to seek out a woman named Nemelle in a place called the Clerk's (or, Upper) Ward...
- Kill vargouilles to prevent the corpse of Chad from becoming a vargouille himself - 3750 XP plus location of Decanter of Endless Water. Chad, or what's left of him, is lying just outside the entrance to the Dead Nations, on the west side of the Catacombs. You need 'Stories-Bones-Tell' in order to be able to speak to him (see Dead Nations). To fulfil his request, head back down the passageway, turn left, then head north and kill the 3 vargouilles there. In return, he'll tell you the whereabouts of the Decanter. Of course, you probably already have it at this stage in the proceedings.
Dead Nations
The entrance to the Dead Nations is on the west side of the Catacombs. Oops. Looks like you're going to be here a while. Resistance is futile. Once you submit to them, you're taken to Soego's room (so, you finally found him)! You can rest there.
There are 3 ways you can leave the Dead Nations:
- Kill yourself. You and your party wind up back at the entrance to the Catacombs.
- Perform quests for Hargrimm (see Quests 1 and 2 below).
- Get an audience with the Silent King. See section on Stale Mary below.
Stale Mary is located in a room on the west side of the Dead Nations. From her, you can gain the Special Ability called 'Stories-Bones-Tell' (3750 XP), whereby you can speak to all manner of dead and undead, including zombies, ghouls, and even the bones of the dead that are scattered throughout the Catacombs. If your CHR is high enough (mine was 16), Mary will get you in to see the Silent King (another 3750 XP)! Walk into the alcove to the north of her, and a portal appears. I offered to take the place of the Silent King... but this brought an end to the game (you sit in darkness and silence forever?) Anyway, if you promise not to tell anyone the truth about the Silent King, Hargrimm will agree to let you take your leave of the Dead Nations, and you get 7500 XP for this.
There is a Puzzled Skeleton in the centre of the Dead Nations. He's been posed a riddle that he can't solve by a Riddling Skeleton (whose location is not fixed). If you have an INT of at least 16, you'll be able to trade riddles with the Riddling Skeleton until you stump him, for 6250 XP. Any less INT, and the Riddling Skeleton will best you before you get the answer to the riddle out of him, but you still get some XP for solving a few riddles.
The Knifed Ghoul in the south end of the Dead Nations has Uhir's Knife (see Buried Village, Quest 2). Just give him some Cranium Rat Tails in exchange for the Knife (600 XP).
Quests
- Seek out and slay any cranium rats in the Dead Nations - 3750 XP and Quest 2. Speak with Hargrimm, and ask him if there are any tasks you could perform that would convince him of your loyalty, in order that you may be allowed to leave this place. He'll ask you to kill any cranium rats you might encounter. Indeed, there are some at the end of the hallway just to the south of the chapel.
- Give Hargrimm a reason to remove Soego from the Dead Nations - 5750 XP plus permission to leave the Dead Nations. You need to perform Quest 1 to get this quest. Then... there is a Doubtful Skeleton hanging about just outside the room where Stale Mary is located, on the west side of the Dead Nations. Speak to this skeleton, then return to Soego and tell him there is a skeleton who is thinking about embracing the True Death. Soego leaves his quarters to go speak to this skeleton, and it is then that you are provided with the opportunity to secretly read Soego's journal (2000 XP), which is hidden in his bed in the north part of his quarters. Turns out he's a wererat, sent by the Many-as-One (cranium rats) to spy on the Dead Nations! Talk to Hargrimm afterwards, and he goes to speak with Soego... be sure to take Soego's Skull after the fact, it might come in handy later. Then go talk to Hargrimm once more (3750 XP). If this quest was your ticket out of the Dead Nations (i.e., you didn't see the Silent King), Hargrimm agrees to petition the Silent King on your behalf, and you get an additional 7500 XP.
- Find the Nameless Zombie her name - 5000 XP. You need to have the Special Ability 'Stories-Bones-Tell' (see Stale Mary) before you can get this quest. Then, speak to the Nameless Zombie, near where the Puzzled Skeleton is. She'll ask you to locate her tomb, in the Drowned Nations... but you can convince her that this isn't necessary, and just make up a name for her on the spot.
Drowned Nations
One entrance to the Drowned Nations is in the SW part of the Dead Nations. The other is in the SW end of the Warrens of Thought (though I never managed to open this particular locked door).
In a room just to the east of the entrance to the Drowned Nations, there's a trocopotaca standing over a body. The body has an Abyssal Pipe on it, which invokes the powerful spell "Cloudkill". Just south of this room is another room with some of the same beasties inside. There's a chest here with 371 coppers in it.
In a room on the east side of the Drowned Nations, down a set of stairs, there's an alcove to the north that has the Decanter of Endless Water lying inside. Be prepared to fight for it! Return the Decanter to Glyve to complete Weeping Stone Catacombs Quest 1.
In the south part of the Drowned Nations, there's a chest containing 3 Charms of Infinite Recall. Much more useful than the "Identify" spell when you have multiple items to identify.
In the far SE part of the Dead Nations, on a body, is the Bronze Sphere for which Pharod sent you into the Catacombs! Also here is a Sealed Passageway, that leads to... a tomb. You must enter alone, so make sure you have plenty of room in your inventory first, as there are a few worthwhile items inside.
Tomb
Head into the room to the south, avoiding the large symbol set into the floor (note that if you step into the centre of the large symbol, you get zapped. Hmm). You get teleported to a room to the west. Get Tomb Key1 from the sarcophagus, and be sure to pick up the Abyssal Pipe from the body just south of there. Notice that if you try to exit this room, you just get teleported right back into it. So, stand in the centre of the symbol (killing yourself), and you wind up back at the entrance! This time, when you head south, you wind up in a room to the east. Get Tomb Key2 from the sarcophagus there, stand in the centre of the symbol... and this time when you walk south you wind up in the room to the south. Pick up Tomb Key3 from the sarcophagus there, and kill yourself once again. Finally, with this key, the next time you attempt to venture into the room at the centre... you get to stay there.
Now examine all the wall panels, pushing in each one in turn. By the way, this is your journal, so you've just completed The Mortuary, Quest 2! TNO was relying on the fact that he could kill himself repeatedly in order to move from room to room - a feat no one else could possibly accomplish - to protect his journal from the rest of the multiverse. Once you've pushed in all 8 wall panels, you can open the sarcophagus in the centre of the room, revealing... Tomb Key4. Now head south again one more time. You wind up in a small room in the SE part of the tomb. The sarcophagus here contains: Knot Charm, Charm of Infinite Recall, Scroll of Ax of Torment, Tear of Salieru-Dei (an artefact that grants permanent +1 to CON, but only if your alignment is Lawful Good, which it's probably not :-), and an Enchanted Battle Axe. A portal here opens up, allowing you to exit the tomb and rejoin your companions.
The Warrens of Thought
The entrance to the Warrens of Thought is on the east side of the Weeping Stone Catacombs, guarded by 2 wererats. Careful, these creatures will only succumb to magical weapons or spells.
Once inside, things will run a little differently depending on if you've visited the Dead Nations or not. If you have, you can bluff your way past Mantuok and get an audience with Many-as-One (2000 XP). If you haven't, then you'll probably get teleported to a room where you are held prisoner. No fear though, the room is loaded with useful weapons (Baatezu Mace for you Club fans), and you can talk the guard into letting you out. But then you have to fight your way through to the room where Many-as-One hang(s?) out. Just keep heading north and east.
Once you've spoken to Many-as-One (you get Quest 1 below), you no longer have to fight the wererats, and are free to explore the Warrens of Thought at your leisure. In the room furthest north, in a barrel in the (dark!) NW corner, there's a bottle of Murk, which allows you to cast "Blacksphere". In a room to the south, near where you get locked up, there's a Scroll of Ball Lightning sitting on a shelf.
In the far SW of the Warrens of Thought is the door that leads to the Drowned Nations, but I never managed to find out how to open it. I couldn't find a key, and couldn't bash it open even with STR 20 :-(
Quests
- Discover the weaknesses of the Silent King for Many-as-One - 9500 XP. You get this quest when you first speak to Many-as-One. If you subsequently tell Many-as-One the truth about the Silent King, you'll get 7500 XP, plus 2000 more XP when Many-as-One helps you to recall some memories; however, once you do this, you have outlived the extent of your usefulness, are no longer welcome in the Warrens of Thought, and will have to fight your way back out.
Tenement of Thugs
Once Annah has joined your party, you can enter the Tenement of Thugs, because she tells you the trick for getting by the supposedly 'painted on' door. The Tenement is in the SE region of the Hive, being the large building to the north of the Smoldering Corpse bar.
Interlude: Pharod's Vault
Once you enter the Tenement of Thugs, you'll witness a cut scene where Paharod is beset upon by a horde of... shadows. OK, the poor blighter's dead now, so you can go pilfer his hidden stash. Though strictly speaking, Pharod's Vault is not within the confines of the Tenement of Thugs, I've chosen to document it here as it's as good a place as any. Anyway, as you surmised, his Crutch is the portal key. Take it (and the Bronze Sphere of course, you can sense it's important somehow!) and when you approach the archway to the NW of his 'throne', sure enough a portal appears. Now, you have to search all the bookshelves on all the levels of his stash meticulously, and this is a list of the important stuff you should find there: Scroll of Magic Missile, Scroll of Chromatic Orb, Blood Fly Charm, Scroll of Swarm Curse, Blood Charm, Stinger Earring (+2 to AC!), Angle-less Eye (+1 to AC for missile attacks? Hmm). By the way, Pharod's Crutch is a useful enchanted Club weapon, so you might want to keep it if you're so inclined.
Meanwhile... back at the Tenement...
If TNO dies here, you wind up in a room with a locked door. Just have Annah use her Thief skills to open it.
Quests
- Find key and sneak out of Tenement - 1000 XP plus Adder's Tear. Speak to Sybil, the woman standing just outside the large room filled with crazed thugs on the ground floor. She'll tell you about a key you'll need to open the door to the alley, and that it's supposedly hidden on one of the thugs somewhere upstairs. She'll also allude to the fact that you can sneak past the thugs if you enter the room via another door to the SE of here. Anyway, all the way up on the 3rd floor, there's a mage at the end of a long corridor. Open the door to this corridor, wait for the 3 thugs to come out of the corridor, then kill them. The mage won't have seen you yet. Then have Annah sneak in the shadows, get behind him, and backstab him. One less crazed mage, and he has the Tenement key on him! The room next to where the mage was standing has a cart with 4 Clot Charms and 170+ coppers in it. Once you have the key, give it to Annah, then head back to the ground floor, and find the door on the east side of the room with all the thugs in it. Have Annah stealth her way through the entire room, being careful to keep in the shadows (if you have some Dirty Rat Charms, these boost Stealth skill by 10%). The door to the alley is all the way at the south end of the room. Once she makes it through the door, you're all out, and Sybil meets up with you in the alley. By the way, you don't have to stealth your through the room in order to get out - you can simply make a mad dash for it or fight all the way to the door - but using stealth for a change is a lot more fun!
Alley of Lingering Sighs
The only way to get here is through the Tenement of Thugs.
Enter the Small Dwelling to the south of the Tenement, and recover the Hammer from the dead Dabus there. Also, make sure you determined how the dabus died, either by using Stories-Bones-Tell, or by simply examining the corpse. Then, head east, through the large gate, and down the stairs. Speak to the... entity there, and you'll get Quest 1.
Quests
- Get rid of dabus in the Alley of Lingering Sighs - 11500 XP and Quest 2. You can kill the dabus that's hammering away in the Alley, but it's bad for your karma, among other things (like, it pisses off the Lady of Pain, and you don't want to do that... again). A better way is to tell him about his fallen colleague in the Small Dwelling. He'll go to investigate, and shut himself inside.
- Undo repairs the dabus made to the Alley - 16250 XP and passage to the Lower Ward. I sure hope that you're still carrying that Iron Prybar around with you. If not, it's going to mean heading back into the Tenement of Thugs (there's one in a cart on the ground floor, right at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the 2nd floor). Anyway, there are 2 spots on the wall in the Alley that exhibit a question mark when you place your cursor over them. One is to the NW of the gate at the top of the stairs, the other is just to the west of the Small Dwelling. Make sure you have your Hammer and Iron Prybar in inventory, then examine each of these spots, and make the necessary adjustments.
Lower Ward
The only way to get here is through the Alley of Lingering Sighs. However, once here, you can head back into the Alley of Lingering Sighs, then use the World Map to get back to any place in the Hive.
As soon as you enter the Lower Ward for the first time, Morte is kidnapped by 2 wererats. Sigh. I suppose you'll have to go looking for the poor bugger now... OK, I guess I have to tell you where Morte is, since this is a Guide. Well, you see that place on the very south of the Lower Ward map marked 'A Wrecked House'? Yup. Go in there, and when you take the stairs down, you find Morte sitting on a shelf amongst a load of his friends. Then, the mage Lothar appears, and wants you to find a skull to replace Morte with (see Quest 2). He thinks you might find such a skull in a tomb in the Drowned Nations. If you get the dialogue choice to say you've been there and it's empty, you'll get 30000 XP for this!
Korur, standing just to the SW of the entrance to the Ward, will train you in weapons.
Lenny, standing just to the south of the siege tower, will train you as a Thief.
Giltspur is standing amongst a crowd of punters just outside the market. He'll give you Quest 4 if you ask him about work. Also, he's got a Stinger Earring on him. Quite expensive, but also quite easy for the likes of Annah to nick! It's +2 to AC, so not a bad thing to have.
Speak to Xanthia, the snotty woman in blue standing just to the east of Sebastion the Mage. She'll reveal that just to settle a small grudge whereby a thokola spilt some drink on her dress, she's set him up to kill an abishai, though she knows it isn't possible without magic weapons. Talk to Thorp, the head of the 3 thokola who are standing there to the SE of Xanthia. You get 6000 XP for warning them, they give you 600 coppers in return for the favour, plus you get another 2000 XP when you return to Xanthia and tell her what's transpired. She's pissed off at you, but no great loss.
In the indoor market next to where Giltspur is standing, there are 3 merchants with lots of useful items for sale (Note: a Thief will be able to steal most of these. Can't resell them in that case, but if they're useful to you, who cares?) Most notable of these is a Displacer Ring, sold by Aalek, that adds +2 to AC.
The Pawn Shop in the SW holds little of interest... except for the Shards of Fate, a curious Fist weapon. If you can get Miccah and Brokah (the husband and wife who own the place) to argue, which isn't difficult, Morte learns some new taunts.
Near the entrance to the Great Foundry, there is a woman named An'azi, a githzerai, one of Dak'kon's people. She is suffering greatly, and begs to be put out of her misery. You can ask Dak'kon to do this, but you only get 10 XP. Therefore, I suspect it's one of those accursed alignment tests... but I'm not sure in which direction it takes you - Lawful or Chaotic, Good or Bad? :-(
Quests
- Kill Grosuk the abishai for Sebastion - 4000 XP and permanent +2 to CHR (Sebastion fixes up your scars)! Sebastion is the mage standing on the drawbridge just to the east of the entrance to the Lower Ward. He'll train you to be a Mage, but you'll have to complete this quest for him first. Sebastion tells you there's a contract he can't fulfil, and wants you to kill the party (Grosuk) he made the contract with. Grosuk the abishai is indeed standing just to the east of the siege tower. Speaking to him reveals that Sebastion promised to tell him how to get into the siege tower. Now, you can play this 2 ways:
I thought that an extremly extremely clever thing to do would be to get into the siege tower prior to speaking with Grosuk, and then I'd be able to tell him how to get in, thus circumventing Sebastion. Tried this and... no dice. The moral dilemma concerning the 2 choices above is central to the quest's theme.
- Kill Grosuk (8000 XP)! You also get a reward from Sebastion, but this solution doesn't do wonders for your 'lawful good' reputation, if you happen to be leaning that way.
- Tell Grosuk that Sebastion can't fulfil his end of the contract. Grosuk promptly stomps over to Sebastion, polishes him off, and all you get out of it is a Heart Charm.
- Find a skull of great value - 15000 XP plus Morte gains the Special Ability 'Skull Mob', and Quest 3. If you've got Soego's skull with you (see Dead Nations), then you're all set. Another option is the skull of Mantuok, the nasty wererat you (possibly) met in the Warrens of Thought. He's to be found through the trapdoor under the divan in Lothar's room, near a bridge with some of his buddies. You can kill him in battle, or you can just give him a piece of Poisoned Cheese that you buy from Giltspur. When Mantuok asks what you're doing down there, tell him you're on a mission for Lothar. Then, when he challenges your intentions further, you should get a dialogue option to offer him the cheese. You get 5000 XP if you manage to off Mantuok with this ingenious 'have-a-piece-of-poisoned-cheese-won't-you' technique! In any event, Mantuok's carrying around the Grimoire of Pestilential Thought - a neat thing to have if you're a Mage leaning toward the dark side... so it's worth either wasting him or picking his pocket for it. Once it's in your possession, this book will talk to you! If you spill a drop of blood on it for openers, you'll learn the spell 'Blindness'. The next time you talk to it, you'll get Quest 11 .
- Find the night hag Ravel Puzzlewell. This is another one of those quests that might take a while...
- Take a handbill to Scofflaw Penn at the Print Shop to be printed - 6000 XP and Quest 5. Penn's Print Shop is located in the NE of the Lower Ward. After you deliver the handbill, if you mention the note you found in the Mortuary, you can then ask Penn if you can join his group... but he won't entertain you - not yet, anyway. Just be sure that you don't piss him off so much that he locks you out of his shop, because you might require his services later on!
- Take a message to Keldor of Durian at the foundry - 6000 XP, entry to the Great Foundry, and Quest 10. Giltspur gives you this quest after you deliver the handbill and report back to him. This is your ticket into the Great Foundry! It's in the northern part of the Lower Ward. Just talk to one of the guards behind the gate there, and he'll let you in once you have the message from Giltspur on you. Keldor is to be found through the door to the NE marked 'To the Godsman Hall', immediately you enter the Foundry. Then, go up the steps and through the next door. Keldor will give you Foundry Quest 1 (see section on The Great Foundry below).
- Karina needs a friend - 4000 XP. Karina is the woman in red garb standing in the middle of the indoor market. Just getting this quest nets you 2000 XP, and then speaking to Corvus, the guard by the entrance north of there, finishes the quest off for the remainder of the XP.
- Find Trist's loan documents - 15000 XP, 1000 coppers, and (possibly) Quest 8. Trist is one of the people standing on the platform in the north part of the Lower Ward. Speak with her, and you learn that she's being sold into slavery to recoup monies from a loan she supposedly didn't pay. Hmm. Further probing reveals that the loan document was most probably stolen, so go talk to Byron Pikit first. He's standing just outside the marketplace. You get 1000 XP for delving a little deeper into the mystery, but you won't get too much further with Pikit. So, go speak to Lenny next, who's standing just to the south of the siege tower. If you pretend that Pikit sent you, Lenny spills the beans. You get 2000 XP for this, plus another 4000 XP if Lenny tells you about the 'bonus' that's stored in the Warehouse along with the loan document (you might need high CHR to get this option). So, head to the Warehouse in the north of the Lower Ward next. In the Warehouse, speak to the floating head there (Vault of the Ninth World). You should at least be able to secure Trist's Loan Document, and also a Scroll of Evidence if Lenny confided in you. While you're here, you might be able to secure a Bag of Coins, if you can guess the amount that's in the Bag on the first attempt. Anyway, Take the Loan Document to Declan, who's the auctioneer standing on the platform with Trist. He'll agree to release Trist, and you get 4000 XP. Talk to Trist afterwards, and she gives you 1000 coppers, plus you get 4000 more XP!
- Get evidence that Byron Pikit is a criminal - 2000 XP. If you secured the Scroll of Evidence from the Warehouse (see Quest 7), then you can try showing it to one of the Harmonium Officers standing on the auction block. For some reason, they won't even give you the time of day, however... if you completed Quest 6, Corvus in the marketplace is now your friend, and you can get Pikit arrested by giving the Scroll of Evidence to Corvus.
- Release Dimtree from his zombie condition - 8000 XP. Talk to Hamrys in the Coffin Maker's Shop, SE corner of the Lower Ward. Though he's a wealth of information, especially concerning the factions... he's also an interminable bore. Then talk to Dimtree. Seems the poor chap was put here by Sebastion to keep Hamrys occupied - in other words, to keep him from inflicting his boredom upon the rest of Sigil. Anyway, Dimtree has had enough and wants out. Go talk to Sebastion the Mage again. He looks through a spell book, and says he can't help you directly; however, you can surreptitiously read the required spell over his shoulder for 4000 XP. Then, return and speak the words you learned to Dimtree, and the deed is done.
- Take the handbill to Barkus at the Smoldering Corpse - 8000 XP and 200 coppers. You get this quest when you return to Giltspur after completing Quest 5. Just take the handbill to Barkus, and return to Giltspur. Easy money.
- Sell a companion into slavery - Scroll of Adder's Kiss. After you give the Grimoire a drop of your blood, this is the quest you get. Hmm. The book tells you to seek out Vrischika in the Clerk's Ward (see below). She'll buy a slave. This is not looking good...
- Kill a companion for an additional power - Scroll of Power Word, Kill. After you complete Quest 11, the Grimoire will give you this final quest. Of course, being the Nameless One (now 'Dark One'?), you can probably resurrect whoever you bump off about 30 seconds later... but it's just not the same afterwards, is it? Hard going here. As you can imagine, this is negative Karma all the way. After this, the Grimoire becomes silent.
The Great Foundry
You get here from the Lower Ward, as a result of Quest 5 there (Note: you can also gain entry to the Foundry via an item you obtain in the Clerk's Ward, Quest 10... but that happens much later on. Don't peek ahead if you wish not to spoil things too much).
If you speak to Saros in the Godsman Hall (see Quest 3 below), and ask him about his sister, he'll tell you that she has a special talent. When you then speak to Sarossa, who is usually standing in the circular room at the entrance to the Godsman hall, only then will you get the dialogue choice to ask her about this talent. If you can convince her that you believe in the Godsmen philosophy (usually, you have to join the Godsmen to be able to convince her), then she'll agree to 'change' you. You gain a permanent +1 to WIS.
Nihl Xander is standing at the end of the passageway off the east side of the Godsman Hall, leading up to Sandoz's room. He recognises you, from a stone bust that someone had carved! If you agree to help him construct this 'Dreambuilder', you'll get Quests 5 and 6 below.
Quests
- Forge an item - 8000 XP and a new weapon of your choosing. When you mention to Keldor in the Foundry that you might like to join the Godsmen, you get this quest, and also Quest 2. Head back out into the Foundry proper, and seek out the woman who is walking around there, Alissa Tield. Tell her you want to forge an item, and she'll tell you that you need: protection from the flames, tongs, hammer, and a piece of iron ore. Go see Nadilin in the clerk's office (room just to the east of where you entered the Foundry). And he'll sell you the Leather Apron, Forge Hammer, and Tongs. He mistakenly quotes 50 coppers as the price, when it's actually 40. You can pick him up on this if you're a miserly bastard, or pay him the 50 for a little push towards Lawful Good. Nadilin says you can only get iron ore from someone named Thildon, so head back out into the forge and look for him. Thildon reluctantly parts with a piece of ore. Now, find the one empty smelting pot, and left-click on it (not exactly the intuitive way, I thought). You can forge a Stiletto, a Sledgehammer, or an Axe. Not bad weapons, actually. When you're done, report back to Keldor, and he'll give you Quest 3.
- Join the Godsmen - 8000 XP, access to Godsmen artefacts, and to the room containing the 'secret' project. You must complete Quests 1, 3, and 4. Then you get access to some very useful weapons and scrolls. You'll be able to take on Quest 9 now, and also have Sarossa 'change' you.
- Solve the murder of Avildon the smith - 10000 XP and Quest 4. Back to Alissa, and she'll fill you in a bit on this murder Keldor wants you to solve. Now, you can finger any of the 3 suspects to complete the quest, but I believe this is the 'right' way: Speak to Thildon, and he'll suggest you interrogate Saros. Saros is Sandoz's son (Sarossa's brother). You can find him skulking about in the hall where Keldor is. He presents you with an awl that he says Thildon dropped on the night of the murder. Back to Thildon then, and he insists that Saros stole the awl from him and planted it as evidence. Saros... admits doing this, but still insists that Thildon is guilty, and that he only did this to make sure that Thildon would get convicted of the murder. Sigh. Thildon next fingers Saros and Bedai-Lihn (remember, the 3rd suspect?) as Anarchists. Back to Saros again, and he still insists that Thildon is the guilty one. Finally, when you return to Thildon this time, you can threaten him with having to take an oath (along with Saros) in front of Keldor to determine who's guilty. He finally backs down, and you can either have him arrested, or allow him to flee, depending on your Lawful/Chaotic tendencies.
- Prevent Sandoz from killing himself - 12000 XP, and you may join the Godsmen. You must complete Quest 3 first, then Keldor will give you this final quest to become a Godsman. Head to the east side of the Godsman Hall, through the door, up the passageway and the stairs. You should be able to talk Sandoz out of his suicide by speaking to him through the closed door to his room.
- Help complete the Dreambuilder in the Great Foundry - Portents of things to come... You need to have the Dream Key, a result of completing Quest 8, in your possession. Then go to that small door in the NW of the Foundry, the one you've always been wondering what lies beyond, and dream.
- Fetch a vial of skin and blood. You need to venture into the Clerk's Ward to secure this item. See Clerk's Ward, Quest 1. When you return with the vial from the Apothecary, you get Quest 7.
- Fetch a birdcage festooned with razorblades - Quest 8. If there was ever a compelling reason to get into the siege tower, this is it! Talk to Lazlo in the Marketplace. Ask him about this ward. He'll tell you of some strange comings and goings, and it is from this that you deduce how to get into the siege tower! Now go to the drawbridge to the east of the siege tower, and a portal will open up. Go through it (only if you don't want to, of course :-) Once inside the siege tower, speak to Coaxmetal the golem. Interesting. Coaxmetal will provide you with some nice weapons, namely: Punch Daggers of Shar, Brimstone Hammer, and Spiked Gauntlets of Ogre Power. You can't steal these, so purchase wisely! Also, more importantly, he'll forge the Blade of the Immortal for you... something that you can supposedly kill yourself with, but only if used in the right place. Hmm. Oh, and don't forget to ask him for the birdcage :-)
- Bring a coffin pillow to Xander - 16000 XP and Dream Key. Easy one. Go talk to Hamrys in the Coffin Maker's Shop again, and ask him about a pillow. Then listen to his long dissertation about coffin making, and feel free to threaten him with bodily harm once your patience is exhausted. He sends you to the Warehouse. Just tell the Vault that you're here to claim something, and you've got your Dream Pillow. In return for the pillow, Xander gives you a key to get into the room where the Dreambuilder is housed.
- Sabotage the Godsmen's machine for Bedai-Lihn - 8000 XP and Quest 10. Bedai-Lihn is an Anarchist, but you need to have undertaken Quest 3 in order to find this out. You also need to join the Godsmen, or you won't be able to complete this quest. Once you're a Godsman, take the north stairway from the circular room at the entrance to the Godsman Hall, and speak to Bedai-Lihn at the end of the walkway overlooking the Godsman Hall. Tell her you're not happy about being a Godsman any longer. She'll confide in you, and ask you to destroy the weapon that's being built for the baatezu. Speak to Keldor again, and ask him about the secret project. He'll give you a Godsman Token, which grants you access to the room at the north end of the Foundry. If you talk to one of the guards near the large doors, and show him the Token that Keldor gave you, he'll let you inside. Talk to Kel'lera, the githzerai woman who is heading the project (you'll get a lot more out of her if you have Dak'kon with you). It appears that they've been contracted by the baatezu to build a weapon that spews forth a great stream of fire. After you've got the skinny on the weapon, ask her about... ahem... 'weak spots' (I can't believe you get away with this). Then left-click on the rear of the machine where the question mark appears when you put your cursor over it, and you'll be allowed to sabotage it! Beware that in addition to blowing up the machine, you've just blown any chances at being a Lawful Good type :-)
- Kill Sandoz, the Godsman factotum - 8000 XP and Quest 11. Just march upstairs and take out Sandoz and his 2 guards.
- Smuggle Bedai-Lihn from the Foundry - 8000 XP, and Scofflaw Penn will now talk to you. You need to find her a complete set of smith's gear, and some rags. First, I thought I could just give her my smithy stuff, and I had some rags hanging about, but this doesn't work. There's also a Hammer, Tongs, and rags in a crate at the north end of the secret room, but these are of no use either. What you must do, in fact, is head back to Nadilin the clerk, and he'll sell you a Godsman Disguise for 60 coppers! Once you've completed this quest, you wind up outside the Warehouse. If you're still dead set on being an Anarchist, you can now talk to Scofflaw Penn in the Print Shop. See Quest 12.
- Join the Anarchists - 16000 XP and access to their stash at the Warehouse. When you speak with Penn this time, you get the dialogue option to repeat the phrase that Bedai-Lihn gave you: "The city must burn." If you agree with Penn's doctrines, he'll assign you a task to kill Qui-Sai in the Civic Festhall. Qui-Sai is what appears to be a stone statue in a room in the north part of the Civic Festhall, which is located in the NE part of the Upper Ward (also known as the Clerk's Ward. To get to the Clerk's Ward, take the eastern exit from the Lower Ward). Now, you're better off waiting a while before you do anything rash here, because you'll be OK inside the Festhall after you kill Qui-Sai (no one there seems to realise what you've done), but once you step outside, every Harmonium Officer in the Clerk's Ward is going to be chasing after your sorry ass - making it difficult to go about your business at a leisurely pace. But then... you are an Anarchist, right? :-)
Talk to Penn afterwards, and he'll send you off to see Leena and Conall in the Warehouse, which doubles as their safehouse. Frankly, their stuff at the Warehouse isn't top notch (the most notable being Scroll of Cloudkill, and a few earrings that double as spells). However, they do have cells of followers scattered around the place, so maybe there are some with real weapons like the other factions make available? (Note: indeed, Ebb Creakknees, located in the Smoldering Corpse bar, is another Anarchist. However, I never tried speaking to him when I was an Anarchist, so I don't know for certain whether you can get any decent gear from him)
Clerk's Ward (a.k.a. Upper Ward)
A lot to do here! You can start by seeking out the woman called Nemelle who Glyve, in the Catacombs, told you would know the command word that activates the Decanter of Endless Water. Sure enough, Nemelle is standing right there at the outdoor bar in the SW part of the Ward. Not only will she give you the command word for the Decanter, but you'll also get Quest 2 when you ask if she's looking for someone. Anyway, now that you have the command word, you can head back to the Smoldering Corpse bar and put out Ignus! He'll join your party then :-)
Vrischika's Curiosity Shop, in the south part of this Ward, is a veritable treasure-trove of useful (and not so useful) items. You'll need many of her exotic items to complete quests. Of the non-exotic items, the best haul here is the Hammer of Comminution. It'll set you back upwards of 12000 coppers, so... it's best to have Annah steal it! Just have her use Dirty Rat Charms until her Pick Pockets skill is at least 110%, then she should be able to nick the Hammer within 10 attempts. Also worthy of buying or stealing: Teeth of the Fire Drake (possibly the best weapon for Morte!), Heart of the Fosterer (but you need to be of Chaotic alignment to use it), Tear of Salieru-Dei (for Lawful Good types), and a Divine Censer, used to raise the dead.
The Brothel of Slating [sic, should be 'Slaking'] Intellectual Lusts is located in the centre of this ward. Talk to Fall-From-Grace, the succubus madam, and if you agree to speak with all 10 of her girls, she'll agree to join your party (see Quest 3 below). You can trade tales with Yves the Tale-Chaser (located in room at 5 o'clock on the map) for 500 XP a go. If you enter the room at the 12 o'clock position in the Brothel, and move your cursor over the left-hand wall panel, a secret door is revealed. Downstairs is an area that contains a sensory stone for each student of the Brothel (and a tenth stone with the name scratched off). Speaking with the caretaker reveals that the stones can only be accessed by the students, each one being tuned to the girl whose name is carved on the base. I never figured out how to access these stones. Grace didn't even have anything to say about them.
If you buy the 'metallic cube figurine' (Modron Cube) from Vrischika, then seek out the Modrons in the central courtyard of the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts, you'll learn how to manipulate the Cube in such a way as to be transported directly to the Modron Maze (see section below).
You can buy a 'tattered rag doll' from Vrischika as well, that turns out to be a Lady of Pain Rag Doll (by the way, if Fall-From-Grace has joined your party, she's got a very high Lore skill and can identify quite a few items without need of spell or scroll). Anyway, talk to the doll. Keep selecting dialogue choices until you feel a tingling sensation and the doll... changes. Then the next time you take any exit from the Clerk's Ward, the Lady of Pain will appear and send you to the Player's Maze. If it's the first time you've been there, see the 'Player's Maze' section above to learn how to extricate yourself. If it's the second time, then you're a deader anyway :-)
Jolmi, the woman dressed in green just inside the entrance to the Civic Festhall, will offer you 1000 coppers (2000 if your CHR is high enough) for allowing her to kill you. Man, these Sensates are jaded :-)
Seek out Jumble Murdersense, a small stout man wandering around the Civic Festhall. Get him to put a curse of hiccups on you. Then speak to Salabesh the Onyx, self-proclaimed Master of Curses, who is holding court just outside the Festhall. Shame him into giving you the phrase that puts a counterspell on Jumble! You get 10000 XP for this, plus you can now get Jumble to remove the Curse of Stench he put on Reekwind for another 1000 XP (see the Hive - SW region, Quest 2 :-)
Qui-Sai is what at first appears to be a statue in the northern-most room of the Civic Festhall. You can persuade him to train you in weapons, but you need to refute his argument that he shouldn't train you first! See Quest 15 below.
In the Galleria, one of the exhibits is a stone statue. If you examine the cracks in the statue, you'll note that a piece can be broken off... but you need an ordinary hammer to accomplish this feat... which you probably aren't bothering to carry around anymore. No worries. Just nick back to the Great Foundry and buy another set of forge gear from the clerk. The Forge-Hammer does the trick nicely, extracting a Mad Splinter from the statue (4000 XP), which turns out to be one of the better Edged weapons in the game (though it's fragile). Then, head on over to Vrischika's place again and purchase the Gorgon Salve. When you apply it to the statue (another 4000 XP), Morte learns some new taunts. The statue's curse has the side affect of killing TNO, but that's hardly anything to worry about, is it?
On becoming a Sensate
Normally, you can't become a member of one faction if you're a already a member of another, unless you renounce the first one. However, because there are things you need to accomplish in the private sensorium of the Civic Festhall - which is accessible only to Sensates - in order to complete the game, the designers have thoughtfully provided a 'back door'. Go speak to Aelwyn again after completing Quest 2, and she'll remind you that you were once a Sensate in a previous incarnation! Armed with this knowledge, Splinter will allow you to visit the private sensorium. You won't have access to all the things a full-fledged Sensate is entitled to, but it does the job.
Once you've gained entry to the private sensorium by whatever means, seek out Quell (Splinter tells you he knows something of Ravel Puzzlewell). While you're there, make sure you experience 'Longing' from the stone in the room to the north. Deionarra gives you the keywords necessary to retrieve a legacy left with her father, the advocate. Also be sure to access the stone in the south room, called 'The Messenger'. You meet Ravel, and she tells you that to find her you need: a door, a key, and to unlock the key. The door is in a "place of steel and forges". Must be the Great Foundry. Quell is obviously the person in the Festhall who holds the key, but he won't help you until you find... an exquisite chocolate for him! Head for Vrischika's once more, and purchase the Chocolate Quasit. Quell then opens up a bit (8000 XP and you get Quest 12), and reluctantly tells you that a piece of Ravel is the key to the door you seek (you can also buy magical chocolates from Quell, the most useful of which is a Stinky Chocolate that invokes 'Cloudkill' for only 350 coppers). You can't get a piece of Ravel herself, but how about one of her offspring? See Quest 9. As for unlocking the key... see Quest 12.
You may also visit 'your' room now. It's at the far eastern side of the Festhall. Just ask the nice lady clerk for the key... there are quite a few spells and charms on the shelves, not to mention a Scroll of Fire and Ice plus a mysterious Dodecahedron in a locked cupboard. You can fiddle with the Dodecahedron until it opens up. It looks to be one of your well guarded journals, and deciphering the language in it is the subject of Quest 10 below.
Actually, about the only extra thing you get by joining the Sensates is the special ability of Sensory Touch. Fall-From-Grace (see Quest 3), being a Sensate, also possesses this ability. A little experimentation reveals that it works something like a Mage's spell - you can only use it once, then you must rest before you can use it again. However, I never found it to be particularly useful! When invoked, it seems to transfer up to about 10 HP from the caster to the target. There are easier ways to move HP around.
UnderSigil
...is a big, bad place. It exists for only one purpose, and that is: to gain XP! You get there by taking stairs downwards from either of the entrances, at the north or the SW of the Ward. Before you go down there, be sure to rest up and have plenty of healing aids at hand. Near the north entrance, the main menace is Larval Worms. These will make mincemeat of your party in no time. They're worth 8000 XP each though. If you want to max the XP, it's best to kill each one individually, but you can wuss out and slaughter a whole group at once with Cloudkill (you only get 8000 XP for the whole group this way though). Near the SW entrance, you'll encounter mostly Trelons, also quite nasty. These are easier to kill though, and Grace's Call Lightning spell is especially effective. I thought there'd be loads of treasure down there, but the only thing of any real value is a pair of Manacles, that when identified are found to invoke Chain Lightning Storm.
Quests
- Split Pestle and Kilnn - 6000 XP and 10 Clot Charms. The Apothecary is the large building in the centre of the Clerk's Ward. Speak to the dual personality Pestle-Kilnn behind the counter. If you're here as a result of The Great Foundry Quest 5, you'll get the dialogue option to ask for the vial that Nihl Xander sent you for. Additionally, you can split Pestle-Kilnn by venturing into Vrischika's Curiosity Shop just south of here and procuring the Elixer of Horrific Separation for a mere 200 coppers. Afterwards, speak to Pestle and he'll create 10 Clot Charms from a drop of your own blood.
- Find Aelwyn for Nemelle - 8000 XP and permanent +3 to HP. Aelwyn is to be found at the other outdoor bar, on the east side of this ward. She asks you to return to Nemelle and tell her that she's here.
- Speak to the ten students in the Brothel - 20000 XP and Grace will join your party. Ask Fall-From-Grace if she would like to travel with you. After much persuasion, she'll accept the offer, but only if you agree to speak to her 10 students. Of course, this leads to not a few quests, beginning with Quest 4 below. Once you've spoken to 9 of the students, you'll get a dialogue option to ask the girls who the 10th student is. None of them can tell you. Of course, when you then speak to Grace... you realise that the 10th student is none other than yourself! (if your INT is not high enough, you'll get the dialogue option to say that Luis the armoire is the 10th student) Fall-From-Grace is the only NPC of the Priest class. Her Call Lightning spell is deadly, and she's also the only one who can throw healing spells. Her Lore skill is very high, so be sure to speak to her regarding anything you're curious about on the Planes.
- Spice up Juliette's love life - 20000 XP. Juliette is the woman in green, whose room is located at the 8 o'clock position in the brothel. I agreed to get some fake love letters from Scofflaw Penn (Print Shop in Lower Ward) and deliver them to her lover Montague in the Civic Festhall. He's the man dressed in red in one of the northern rooms of the Festhall (if you've managed to piss off Penn and can't get into his Print Shop anymore, you can get a Love Letter from the locked dresser in Yves' room in the Brothel, located at 5 o'clock on the map). You get 5000 XP for presenting Montague with the fake Love Letter, plus another 5000 XP when you suggest he tries a spot of turnabout on Juliette. Return to Juliette for the remainder of the XP.
- Find and return Vivian's 'personal scent' - 25000 XP and permanent +1 to CHR. Vivian's chambers are at 11 o'clock in the Brothel, but she can often be found just wandering around the place. It seems someone has absconded with her scent. Hmm. But you need to be given Quest 6 as well before you can take any action. When you eventually do present the Veil to her, she'll use her skills to lessen TNO's formaldehyde stench, thus permanently improving his/your Charisma!
- Find and return Marissa's Crimson Veil - 25000 XP. This quest is related to Quest 5. Marissa's Veil has also gone missing. Once you've got both these quests in your journal, talk to Nenny Nine-Eyes (usually in room at 9 o'clock on the map). As a side quest, you can rack up 5000 XP just for teaching Nenny how to be 'bad'. Anyway, Nenny will implicate both Marissa and Kimasxi Adder-Tongue. Go speak to them both (Kimasxi's room is at 4 o'clock, and she can teach Morte some new taunts). After you've spoken to Marissa and Kimaxsi, speak to Nenny again one more time. Then she'll tell you that she once saw a man sneaking around the place. He disappeared, yet she never saw anyone leave the premises. Uh huh. Now it's time to pay a visit to Luis the talking armoire(!), located in the room next to Juliette's. Whether or not you've spoken to him before, you'll get a dialogue choice to accuse him of the thefts based on what Nenny just told you. You can then wangle the Veil off him. Marissa's Veil also holds Vivian's personal scent, so complete Quest 5 before returning the Veil to Marissa.
- Return to Dolora the 'keys to her heart' - 30000 XP. Merriman is the rotund little guy who continuously wanders around the central corridor of the Civic Festhall. He (literally!) holds the keys to Dolora's heart. You can pickpocket him to get them, or take them by force... but completing Quest 8 for him will net you a whole lot more XP, not to mention satisfaction :-)
Once you've returned the Keys to Dolora, you can ask her about Ecco, the silent prostitute, who's the subject of Quest 9.- Find a way to erase Merriman's memory - 12000 XP and Dolora's Keys. Time to take in some culture. Pay a visit to the Art and Curio Galleria, next to the Advocate's home. Have a look at the display directly in front of you as you enter (Dark Birds of Ocanthus). Then, go speak to Yvana the caretaker and query her about this exhibit (while you're at it, if you've already spoken to Yves the Tale-Chaser in the Brothel, you can re-unite mother and daughter for a karma boost). Anyway, looks like one of the Dark Bird ice shards will be just the thing to make Merriman forget, only you need a way to stop the shard from melting once you've removed it from the display. If you spoke with the drunken mage at the outdoor bar, you'll have learned that his magical mug could keep anything very cold... but you couldn't get the mug off him. There are 2 ways to obtain this mug: either head over to Vrischika's Curiosity Shop to buy one (it's the rune covered Ale-Stein), or talk to the woman named Death-of-Desire, located in the room to the west of yours in the Festhall. She can make you lose your desire for anything, and you can now impart this information to the Drunken Mage at the bar who will give you his Frosty Mug in return (as he doesn't need it any longer). Anyway, once you have obtained this Mug by whatever means, take it back to the Galleria, and you can now capture one of the Dark Birds in it. Finally, present the Mug to Merriman, and you walk away with Dolora's Keys safely in hand.
- Help Ecco regain the ability to speak - 30000 XP... and an interesting piece of info regarding Kesai-Serris! You need to complete Quest 8 first (Dolora tells you how Ecco lost her voice), before you can get this quest. Then, 'speak' with Ecco and agree to help her. OK, it's off to Vrischika's once more. Get the Fiend's Tongue (and the Deva's Tears. Just saved you another trip :-) Of course, the Fiend's Tongue restores her speech, but at a terrible cost. However, the Deva's Tears soon soothe the savage tongue. When you now ask Ecco about Ravel Puzzlewell, she presents you with the astonishing revelation that Kesai-Serris, one of the other students in the Brothel, is actually Ravel's daughter! When confronted with this fact, Kesai vehemently denies it. Go speak to Juliette then, who's a friend of Kesai's. She tells you that Kimasxi and Kesai are half-sisters. Kimasxi then tells you to confront Kesai again, and have her contact their father... in a spiritual sense. Kesai does this, and finally comes to the realisation that she is Ravel's daughter. This information is vital to your completing the quest to find Ravel... you might now want to seek out Quell, in the Civic Festhall, but you need to become a Sensate in order to do this (see section 'On becoming a Sensate' above).
- Learn the language of the dodecahedron puzzle box - 22000 XP and you can read the journal. Once you have the Dodecahedron in your possession (see section 'On becoming a Sensate' above), visit Finam the linguist's house in the south of the Ward. You learn that his father was murdered (if Finam won't talk to you, you may have to retrieve his lost book for him first. It's in the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts, in the room where Luis the armoire is). Use Storie-Bones-Tell on the urn, and you converse with Finam's dead father and recall the language of the Uyo, which is also the language of the writing in the Dodecahedron (if you don't have Stories-Bones-Tell in your bag of tricks, you'll have to pursue the alternate route of finding Finam's book). You also recall that it was you who murdered the poor sap, so that no one else could learn this language. Seems that TNO is always apologising for one transgression or another that he committed in a previous incarnation :-)
Reading the Dodecahedron also turns up the number of a legacy, '51-AA'. When you claim this legacy from Iannis (8000 XP), who is astounded because the legacy is so old, you receive: a Kaleidoscopic Eye, a Stone Gullet, and a Godsman Receipt. Take the Godsman Receipt to the clerk in the Foundry, and... one instant Unfolding Portal to Ravel's maze coming up (not to mention 40000 XP)! If you have the Handerchief with Kesai-Serris' blood on it (see Quest 12), you can now travel to meet Ravel. Like the man says, be sure to stock up on supplies first... see section on Ravel's Maze below.- Retrieve Malmaner's costume from Goncalves - 8000 XP and Quest 13. Malmaner is standing outside the Tailor's Shop on the north side of the Ward. Just go inside and talk to Goncalves the tailor. He'll sell you a Dustman costume for 30 coppers, but warns you that a lot of folk are already going to a party as Dustmen. When you return to Malmaner and tell him this, he'll pay you back the 30 coppers and ask you to fetch a different costume.
- Find the portal key to Ravel's maze - 40000 XP. You must first establish that Kesai-Serris is Ravel's daughter (see Quest 9). Then you have to speak to Quell, in the Civic Festhall private sensoriums (see section 'On becoming a Sensate' above), and learn that the portal key to Ravel's maze is a piece of Ravel. Kesai is the next best thing. Just obtain a handkerchief from one of the rooms in the Brothel, and Kesai will... donate some blood, thus 'unlocking' the key!
- Obtain a second costume for Malmaner - 6000 XP. You need to complete Quest 11 first. This time you fetch a Godsman costume for the git. By the way, there are some fantastic garments to be gained for both Annah and Grace by trading with Goncalves the tailor!
- Obtain permission for Iannis to use Deionarra's sensory stone - 8000 XP. Once you've accessed Deionarra's sensory stone in the Civic Festhall private sensoriums (see section 'On becoming a Sensate' above), you can return to Deionarra's father, Iannis the advocate, and claim your legacy, which is: a letter from Deionarra, a Healing Scroll, and a ring. Then, you can promise to obtain permission for Iannis to visit Deionarra's stone. Just go to Splinter in the Festhall, and ask his permission.
- Rebuke Qui-Sai's arguments for training as a thief rather than a warrior - 250 XP and Quest 16. Qui-Sai (or to be more accurate, your journal) suggests that you go looking for the Thief trainer in the Festhall. If you question one of the Thieves-in-Training in the Festhall's middle training room, you'll find out that the trainer's name is Eli Havelock, and that he's wandering the streets somewhere in this Ward. Sure enough, he's to be found standing just to the east of the entrance to the Brothel. He'll provide you with the info necessary to refute Qui-Sai's argument for training as a Thief. When you return to Qui-Sai, he suggests you might want to be a Mage instead! See Quest 16.
- Rebuke Qui-Sai's arguments for training as a mage rather than a warrior - 10000 XP and Qui-Sai will train you as a warrior. Seek out Lady Thorncombe, the jaded resident Mage trainer, in the public sensoriums. She provides you with the info you need to refute Qui'Sai's second argument.
Modron Maze
You get here by manipulating the Modron Cube. See Clerk's Ward above.
Just work your way through the Maze until you come to the room full of Modrons. Talk to the only Modron there who will converse with you (the engineer). If you offer to take over the operation of the Maze, you'll get the opportunity to create a dungeon and choose the difficulty setting. Set it to 'hard', and prepare for a real challenge! Each High Threat Construct that you manage to kill nets you 4000 XP. Since you've got to kill quite a few of them (20 - 30), I was able to pull Morte, Annah, and Dak'kon up a level or more in the course of these battles. Keep fighting until you get to the room where Nordom hangs out. He'll join your party for a whopping 36000 XP, and he's pretty handy in a fight. Those arrows and curious attachments you've been picking up as you fought your way through the Maze are usable only by Nordom. Note: at first, it doesn't seem that Nordom is very handy in battle. Creatures close so fast on you in Torment that ranged weapons seem of little use. But once you know how to employ him properly, you'll find him to be indispensable! Here's how you do it: suppose a group of Larval Worms, Trelons, or whatever are rushing at your party. All you do is send the likes of Dak'kon, Annah, and any other Fighters up to meet them and keep them occupied. Then select Nordom (with his default arrows so he doesn't waste any of the good ones, please) and click on one of the creatures who are busy fending off your Fighter. Nordom will just sit 10 feet back and fire arrows into them at a ferocious rate. This technique really works, even on the toughest of creatures! Nordom hardly ever takes a scratch, and deals out tons of damage in return. By the way, save those Whistling Bolts of Doom for the closing parts of the game. You'll need them :-)
To exit the Maze, all you have to do is find a Portal Lens on one of the dead constructs. You can use it to return to anywhere you've previously visited in the Hive or the Wards.
Ravel's Maze
You get here by completing Clerk's Ward Quests 10 and 12.
Ravel is to be found wandering around in the left-centre of her maze. You get 90000 XP just for finding her. Be nice to her, and don't let this rather long conversation terminate prematurely, because there's a lot you can learn from Ravel (and besides, the game will end prematurely if you exit the conversation before you obtain Quest 1 below - worth 180000 XP just in the obtaining)! During the course of your conversation (if you choose the correct conversation path), Ravel will transform herself into the forms of Ei-Vene, Mebbeth, and Marta. You gain various items/stat boosts for this. You can also get a lock of her hair for another 90000 XP, though I never managed to find a use for it. Unfortunately, no matter how much you flatter - or even... kiss (ugh!) Ravel (for which you gain an interesting tattoo or so later on at Fell's place :-), you're consigned to fighting her once the conversation ends. You should kill Ravel no matter what (if only to pilfer her body for all the goodies afterwards and for the 32000 XP it nets you), but you have the choice of whether or not to stick around and try to beat up on all the Shadows that materialise - or to run like hell!
To exit the maze, take the portal at the NE part of the maze. You emerge near a portal at the SW. Ignore that one, and proceed around the western edge of the maze until you see a portal to the NW. Take that one, and then the next portal you arrive at takes you out of the maze.
Quests
- Find the angel Ravel spoke of. Ravel tells you of a Deva who holds the key to your fate. This is another one that might take a while to figure out...
Curst
Curst is comprised of two parts: Outer (where you arrive from Ravel's Maze), and Inner.
On the east side of Outer Curst, there are two Harmonium guards trying to beat some info out of a poor citizen. I beat up the guards, but the poor sod I was trying to help just ran away and I never got to speak to him. Hidden in a pile of hay behind where they were standing is a Displacer Ring, +2 to AC!
Quests
- Assemble the Key. This is a single quest comprised of 5 sub-quests. To start things rolling, talk to Tainted Barse, the proprietor of the Traitor's Gate tavern. His daughter has been kidnapped by slavers. He sends you to see Marquez, the Harmonium officer standing just SW of Barse.
- Rescue Barse's Daughter - 65000 XP. Marquez tells you that Barse's daughter is being held on the east side of Inner Curst. To get there, take the exit in the far NW of Outer Curst. Sure enough, Jasilya, Barse's daughter, is being held by 6 rogue Harmonium officers there. Talk to Skatch, their leader. You have no option but to fight them; however, choose your words carefully before the fight, or they'll kill her. Make sure you speak to Jasilya afterwards. Just to the south of where Jasilya was being held, there are some thugs standing around amidst a bunch of crates. One of the locked crates contains: Dustman Embalming Charm (Greater), Serpent Ring, Ring of the Traveler. Report back to Marquez to get Quest 3. Marquez will now train you in weapons if you so desire.
- Mediate the Family Dispute - 131250 XP. Marquez sends you to see Kitla, who's standing over by the... hanging shark thingy. Kitla wants you to settle a dispute over legacies between Crumplepunch and Kester. Crumplepunch the smith's place is just to the west of the Traitor's Gate tavern. Kester the distiller's place is located in Inner Curst, just to the left as you pass through the gate. You can settle this one of 3 ways, in decreasing order of desirability:
When you return to Kitla, she sends you to Nabat for the next part of the Key. See Quest 4. She'll also train you as a Mage. Oh, and she'll hand you a Scroll of Abyssal Fury too :-)
- Settle the dispute. I talked to the smith first, and got his legacy. Then, Kester attempts to double-cross his brother when you go speak to him next. So, I simply told Kester that I had decided in favour of the smith. This approach seems to produce the most satisfactory outcome, and you net a whopping 131250 XP for it! Best to keep the smith on your side anyway, as he has great weapons for sale: Assasin's Knuckles, "Foolsmiter", Blind Terror... and for Nordom especially: Jagged Bolts, Zephyr Bolts, and the infamous Bolts of Whistling Doom.
- Talk them both into giving you their legacies, then hand the legacies over to Kitla (most XP at 150000, but not really good for the karma).
- Kill them and take the legacies. Only for the chaotic at heart.
- Defend the Dump Caretaker - 43750 XP. Nabat is standing near the wall, a bit to the south of Kitla. He wants you to help out Kyse, the dump caretaker, because a gang of thugs are after his stash of coins. The dump is just to the SW of the tavern. Kyse sends you to talk with Wernet, who's located just through the gates of Inner Curst and a bit to the SW. Wernet resents your butting in on his little scheme, and won't even talk to you. When you return to Kyse to give him the news, a set piece occurs whereby Wernet and his thugs show up and attack Kyse. Try not to let the old sod get killed, will you? :-)
Once you've dispatched Werner and co., return to Nabat in the tavern. Nabat will now train you as a Thief. He sends you to Dallan for the next part of the Key. See Quest 5.- Deal with an Official Dispute - 287500 XP. Dallan is standing in a room just to the SE of where Jasilya hangs out, on the east side of the tavern. He asks you to settle a dispute between two politicians. The gith called An'izius you need to see first is located near the gate to Carceri, which is in the far NW of Inner Curst. He wants you to frame his opponent, Siabha, by telling the Captain of the Guards that Siabha tried to hire you to kill him. Hmm. Go speak to Siabha next. She's standing in front of a building to the east of there. She will pay you double whatever An'izius is paying! Finally, go see the Guard Captain, who's standing just north of the gate back to Outer Curst. Just tell him that both An'izius and Siabha are corrupt, for 200000 XP. You get the rest of the XP when you report back to Dallan, who finds this a satisfactory outcome. He sends you to Dona Quisho for the final part of the Key. See Quest 6.
- Free Dona Quisho's fiend - 191250 XP. Hey, you get weird requests in fantasy RPG's all the time... but this one takes the biscuit. Dona Quisho is the plump woman standing near Kitla. She wants you to free a fiend that is being held in the grain silo. Right. Anyway, the grain silo is just to the north of the tavern. Once inside, head up the ladder, walk towards the pentagram (you get 60000 XP for this), and examine the scroll that Dona gave you when the dialogue choice appears. You summons Agril-Shanak. Have a chat with the fiend, and then you can decide whether or not to release him. I suspect choosing not to release Agril-Shanak keeps you more on the Lawful Good side of things. Anyway, no matter which way you choose, you get the same XP (131250) and 1500 coppers upon returning to Dona Quisho... and the final part of the Key! As Dona suggests, talk to Barse again. Now... before you have Barse send you on your way, you need to be aware of two things:
- Barse is going to send you to the same place (Curst Underground) you can get to by taking the steps downwards in the middle of Kyse's dump! So, all that rigamarole over getting the Key was for XP alone :-)
- Once you go down there, you can't get back up, so make sure you've done everything you want to do in Curst, and that you have also stocked up on provisions and rested. Barse pays pretty good prices for things (there's a Gold Ingot in a locked crate in the Warehouse, Inner Curst, that Barse will fork out 4000 coppers for!), and you can buy an unlimited amount of Blood Charms and Clot Charms from him.
Curst Underground
You arrive here from Curst either via the steps downwards in Kyse's dump, or through Barse's secret passage.
To the NE, there is a room full of Lemures and a room full of Nupperibos. You can kill them, but you don't get much XP... don't really know why they're there. Also to the NE is another new type of creature, a cornugon named Tek'elach. He'll tell you that it's possible for Curst to slide into Carceri, and that it's also possible to save it after this happens. Hmm.
In the NW corner, there is a hermit who will let you rest there. You'll be coming back here a lot. From the hermit's place, head SW for your next challenge.
Quests
- Kill the gehreleth for Voorsha - negative Lawful Good points? Do you care? Vorsha is a bootlegger hanging about in the south of Curst Underground. Careful, there are a lot of booby traps in his lair. He'll ask you to kill a gehreleth (to the NW of here). The gehreleth is going to eat you anyway, so what the hell? Again, having dealings with a bootlegger ain't going to do wonders for your Lawful Good rep... but I had given up at this stage. I've had Annah steal well over 20 valuable items for starters :-)
Anyway, once you've killed the gehreleth and returned to Voorsha, it turns out that Voorsha never intended to carry out his part of the bargain (to split his bootlegging profits with you), because he didn't think you'd be able to kill the gehreleth. He attacks you, but goes down real easy. There's a lot of pretty good stuff in a crate and a cart... but you can take that even when Voorsha is still alive.
Prison
You arrive here from Curst Underground. Just take the exit SW of the hermit.
Mostly Curst Guards to work your way through here. Try to tempt one or two at a time to break away from the pack, rather than taking on a half dozen or so at once.
Quests
- Free the deva - 393750 XP and a new party member! Trias, the deva who Ravel told you to seek out, is being held in a room in the south part of the Prison. He needs you to find his sword, and whispers the combination of the room where it's locked up into your ear. This room is in the SW part of the Prison, and is heavily guarded (of course). Just before the entrance to this guarded area, amongst a bunch of barrels over to the west, is a barrel containing: 500 coppers, Adder's Tear, and a Scroll of Greater Embalming. Once inside the locked outer door (using the phrase Trias gave you), start to work your way down the outer circular corridor. Be sure to get the Finger Bone Key off one of the guards you kill.
In the third (innermost) circular corridor, you'll meet Siabha and An'izius again, if you did the right thing in Curst and got them both locked up that is. Of course, neither of them will speak to you. Also in this corridor, you'll find a Reminder Note on one of the guards you've killed. It alludes to there being a trigger plate somewhere in here that opens up the last door to the "inner sanctum". Sure enough, when you step into one of the circular patterns on the floor about halfway up the corridor... you get 87500 XP. It's also trapped, so you're gonna lose some HP doing this. Funny, but I was able to open the innermost door without stepping on this plate first. Hmm. Perhaps during the scuffle in the corridor, someone else had already stepped on it? Anyway, once you get to the inner sanctum, there are no more guards. Just a fat bloke named Cassius. Only he's a lot meaner than he looks. You get a choice of defeating him using either: strength, wits, or speed. Obviously, you'll choose accordingly depending on whether you're a Fighter, Mage, or Thief. Once you've defeated Cassius, you get a really impressive weapon: "Celestial Fire". If you're of Lawful Good alignment, you can at least use it to fight your way back out of the Prison, but then you have to hand it straight back to Trias in order to complete this quest :-(
Once you return to Trias, and agree to break his chains, he is free and you lose "Celestial Fire". However, you do get some things as compensation. Trias tells you of the next person to seek - Fhjull Forked-Tongue - and that this person is bound by Trias to help you. Also, Trias gives you one of the links from his broken chains (though it doesn't actually appear in your inventory), which activates a portal near that locked door in the NE corner of the Prison, and it's your ticket out of this miserable place... but not so fast!
The first time I played, I just activated the portal and stepped through immediately. I thereby missed one of the better PC's in the game - Vhailor. He's standing there beyond the portal in the next room, and you can get him to join your party. Just walk right past the portal, try to engage him in conversation, and examine his Helm. Vhailor is a spectral entity, the spirit of an ex-MercyKiller. Very strong and very tough. Once you're finished here, step through the portal and you wind up in...
The Outlands
You arrive here from the Curst Underground Prison, through the portal that Trias told you about. Fight your way south through some creatures you haven't seen yet, and you come upon an extremely large skeleton (by the way, I noticed at this point that Nordom can detect portals, even when they're not open yet! Very useful indeed). There's a doorway in the skull. Speak with Fhjull Forked-Tongue, and ask him about your immortality. He'll tell you of a place called the Fortress or Regrets. He doesn't know how to get there, but he suspects the Pillar of Skulls, located in Baator, might be able to help you in this regard (350000 XP for learning all this)! The portal to Baator is located in the large creature's hand (another 100000 XP). Meanwhile, you can rest here, and since Fhjull is bound by Trias to help you in every way... you can also get tons of supplies off him for free. Man, does he hate parting with the stuff :-)
Though you'll have to wait a while before they can be employed, perhaps the most useful of Fhjull's items are brain parasites called 'kassegs'. When used, they boost your INT by 3 points for a few hours. Very handy for Mages in the very latter stages of the game... anyway, when you're all stocked up and rested, go back outside and step through the portal near the creature's left hand...Quests
- Return to Curst and speak to Trias - 375000 XP. You get this quest when you return to the Outlands from Baator (see end of Baator section below). Fhjull tells you about another portal located at the arse end of the skeleton that takes you back to Curst...
Baator
You arrive here from the Outlands, via the portal near the immense skeleton's hand.
Just work your way to the SE, past a cornugon and several green abishai (8000 XP apiece). There's an exit in the SE that leads to the Pillar of Skulls. Best leave Morte behind while you talk to the Pillar. He doesn't need to be with you and it complicates things. Alright then. You only need to ask the Pillar about two things: how to find the Fortress of Regrets, and how to get out of this place. Before the Pillar will answer each question, it demands something in return. Keep asking for alternatives until you find something you are comfortable parting with :-)
The Pillar knows the key to the portal leading to the Fortress of Regrets (to feel regret, of course!), but it does not know the whereabouts of the portal. It turns out that Trias does know about the portal (a previous incarnation of yours told him), so he has betrayed you by not telling you earlier when you freed him. The Pillar tells you that the exit from Baator is located in the far SW. You have to find a piece of obsidian and eat it... then a portal opens up which takes you back to the Outlands.
Curst Gone
You arrive here from the Outlands by taking the portal near the large skeleton's arse end. Curst is indeed gone. Talk to the Gate Heads (there is a portal there). It appears as if Trias is responsible for causing Curst to slide into Carceri. There are a few locked containers to the east here. You'll find a Corpse Fly Charm and a Cockroach Charm in them. Not much else here... except the biggest, baddest sucker you're going to meet in the whole game! Over to the west is the fiend from Moridor's box (that is, if you didn't release him the first time, when he was a more benign fiend). You need weapons that are at least Enchanted +2 to inflict any reasonable damage on him (Siphon Knuckles are good here). I lost 2 party members before I managed to defeat him, but this is worth 500000 XP! You also get what is arguably the most valuable artefact in the game off his body: the Aegis of Torment. After that, nothing to do now but head through the portal to...
Carceri
Trias has this place in pandemonium! Immediately you enter, speak to Kyse the dump caretaker, who's standing just to the west of the two men near the cart. He'll explain that in order to defeat Trias, you'll first have to perform some good deeds to redress the imbalance towards chaos that Trias has created. He also hands you a scroll containing an awesome spell: Scroll of Meteor Storm Bombardment.
Now, you have to act quickly before the place becomes overrun with gehreleths and trelons. Worse yet, if you go into the Distillery or the Barracks to rest, the buggers re-spawn and you can never wipe the whole lot of them out. So, you should try to do all the following in one go, before things get out of hand!
Right. Good deeds it is then. First order of business is to sort out the two men near the cart. Speak to Tovus, who's trapped there, and offer to pull him out. As you begin to lift the cart, you discover that Berrog is also trapped under the cart, and that if you lift the cart any further, you'll crush him while trying to free Tovus (and vice-versa). The trick is to get your party members to help you, thereby freeing both of them. Tovus gives you a Scroll of Deathbolt for helping him.
Next, head over to the west and up the wooden steps to sort out two gehreleths that are attacking the townspeople there (225000 XP)! Then, head back down the steps, go around this structure to the north, then up another set of wooden steps in the SW that lead to an execution platform. Talk the judge out of executing the merchant for another 225000 XP. That's 3 good deeds already!
Over to yet another set of wooden steps to the NE this time. At the base of these steps, Jasilya is being molested by some thugs. Save her yet again for 75000 XP and yet another good deed done. At the top of these steps, talk Jujog and his gang out of looting the warehouse for 150000 XP. Then, enter the warehouse. You find Ebb Creakknees there, holed up with a bunch of Anarchists. You can convince him (I had CHR of 19, lower might work just as well) to join the good cause instead of sticking with anarchy. If you succeed, he gives you a Scroll of Desert Hell, then runs off to join the fight. That makes 6 good deeds so far. But don't leave the warehouse just yet! There are a few useful scrolls and a Magus Shield in some of the crates there. Also, there's a really powerful artefact (Ancient Scroll) located to the left of the entrance, in a pile of boards. It's a really small spot, so you have to look very carefully to find it. Anyway, this Ancient Scroll is only usable by TNO, and only if TNO is a high level Mage (level 12 seemed to do the trick). It turns out to be a Wish Scroll, and you can use it once to wish for any one of the following:
- Arcane Knowledge. This choice conjures up the following spells: Power Word (Kill), Stygian Ice Storm, and Meteor Storm Bombardment
- An Increase in Abilities (+2 to one of your stats)
- An Item of Power. Produces the Ring of Thex, which adds dramatically to your HP, AC, and adds 2 to all saving throws
- You can heal your entire party (not particularly useful, as you're probably swimming in healing aids by this time)
- 10,000 CP in wealth
Leave the warehouse and head for the NW, where the Administration Building is (Trias is on the balcony there). One more good deed to perform. A Curst Official is beset upon by an angry mob of citizens just south of the Administration building. Only one of the mob will talk to you, the 'Angry Curst Citizen'. Talk him out of bothering the Curst Official, and he'll tell the mob to back off (150000 XP). And that should be enough good deeds done, thank you very much. Finally, talk to the Hermit just outside the Administration Building. He'll let you know whether you've done enough deeds to sufficiently counter Trias' chaos. Even if you haven't, you can still head inside and battle with Trias - it's just that the less deeds you've done, the stronger he is, and thus tougher to defeat. But you've a ways to go before you meet Trias in any case... on the 1st floor, nothing but Sohmeins and looters. Easy. Be sure to to check out the shelves on either side of the stairs for useful charms. On the 2nd floor, it's Curst Guards and gehreleths. Some really nice stuff (3000 coppers and some charms!) in two trapped and locked cabinets in a small room to the east of the stairs. Annah needs pretty high Detect Traps and Open Doors skills to get at them though, but her Thief stats should be beefed up enough by this time (or, maybe TNO's the Thief to be reckoned with, depending what role you're playing :-)
The stairway leading up to the 3rd floor is at the end of the narrow corridor that runs along the east side of this floor. On the 3rd floor, be sure to use your Thief skills again to open the locked desk on the west side of the large room. Annah's best weapon/indispensable thing for a Thief to have is in there: Mark of the Savant! There's also a formidable axe ("Edge of Oblivion", usable by Vhailor) in there too, and a fearsome Vrock Club.Trias is standing on the balcony, south part of the 3rd floor. He summons a few Sohmeins to help him. Try to keep harassing him melee-wise in order to make it difficult for him to get spells off, and you shouldn't have too much trouble with him! Once you've sufficiently weakened him, he submits, and you get to speak with him again. If you choose to kill him afterwards, he releases the bind on Fhjull, and you cannot complete the game... so you're best off vowing to spare his life. He then tells you that the portal to the Fortress of Regrets is located in - wait for it - the Mortuary! As the Pillar of Skulls already told you, the key is to feel regret, but Trias tells you again anyway, only with a little more precision. Now, here's the kicker... you vowed not to kill Trias, and you're in big trouble if you break your word. However, if Vhailor is with you, he strikes Trias down and there's nothing you can do about it except stand there and watch! Oddly enough, you can still complete the game now (I suppose because you didn't have any choice in the matter?) If Trias is killed you can get "Celestial Fire" off his body, not to mention the Scroll of Celestial Host! Anyway, no matter how it turns out, you've just completed the Outlands Quest 1, for 375000 XP. Take the portal that has appeared in the doorway back to Sigil.
Sigil again
You wind up in the Dustman Monument, having returned here from Carceri. Now, hold it right there, cutter! Before you go running off to the Mortuary to meet your destiny... there are a few new things you can do around Sigil since you were last here. Visit Coaxmetal in the siege tower. He'll have some new weapons you can purchase. Then, when you're finished speaking with him and are about to leave, he'll ask you to free him from the tower, by giving him the Modron Cube. In exchange, you get the most powerful weapon in the game: the Entropic Blade! By talking to it, you can get it to change into any form of weapon to suit you or one of your party's fighting skills... but, before you do this, pause to consider the consequences of giving a very powerful chaotic being the ability to undo the multiverse, or something to that effect. Ah, but what the hell - maybe that's why there will never be a Torment II :-)
UnderSigil now has a new creature lurking about. In addition to the usual packs of Trelons and Larval Worms, there's now a much more formidable foe: Greater Glabrezu... greater XP for you too!
OK... when you're ready to progress, go to the Mortuary and tell the guard at the entrance that you need to get in to see Deionarra's memorial. The portal to the Fortress of Regrets is located at the far end of the room where you originally woke up on the slab. How ironic. Not giving too much away, but your party is about to be split up, so make sure TNO is carrying the following: Bronze Sphere, Blade of the Immortal, Deionarra's Wedding Ring, the kassegs you got from Fhjull, and all the healing charms you can lay your hands on. Check. When you're ready, head through the portal (250000 XP).
Fortress of Regrets
You arrive outside the Fortress, alone. Head along the walkway all the way to the east, then south, and speak to Deionarra. Then, go back to where you started, and head all the way to the west to enter the Fortress. Once inside, you have to act quickly. As Dei warned you, there are Greater Shadows all over the place! Note that as you arrive inside, the Transcendent One has turned Ignus against you, even if Ignus is not a member of your party. Anyway, head south, and examine the clock in the room there. It's your writing, and it says: "RUN - DOORS are LIES - USE Cannons - then Portal". Well, if you're a Mage, I definitely recommend taking this advice. A Fighter or Thief with a good weapon can defeat the Shadows... but there are a lot of them (worth 10000 XP each though). Anyway, you need to find the 4 Cannons TNO has referred to. When all 4 are activated, a portal will open up in the room to the NE. The first cannon is at the other end of the room you are in now. The place where you wind up when you pull the lever is a room all the way to the NW. Take the middle stairway down, and use the 2nd cannon. You wind up in a room just to the west of there. The third cannon is in the large central room where you first came into the Fortress, in the NW part of the room. So, head down the stairs and get there. You wind up just north of there. Finally, head down the stairs, and then back up to the only place you haven't been yet - the large stairway directly to the north on your map. Indeed, the 4th and last cannon is just to the east here. You wind up in the room where the 1st cannon is - only something different happened this time. A portal has opened! It's back where the 4th cannon was, so make your way back up the stairs to the north again, and enter the portal...
You wind up in a room with statues surrounding a strange crystal. Ignus is there, and you must fight him to the death. This would be a good time to use some Charcoal Charms (finally!), because all of Ignus' spells are fire based. Once you've defeated Ignus, find the Sounding Stone behind the statue to the NE. Use it. You find out a bit more about the situation you're in. Also, it tells of a stash of supplies hidden in the base of one of the statues here. It's the statue to the SW. You have to look carefully all around the base. Once you have these supplies, it's time to use the crystal in the centre of the room.
You wind up on a slab again, with three of your previous incarnations standing around you. The Practical one speaks to you first. Make sure you explore all avenues of conversation about Deionarra, and the Bronze Sphere (96000 XP), as these paths of conversation open up opportunities shortly. Then, if your INT is high enough (use the kassegs if it isn't around the 20 mark yet), you can trick the Practical Incarnation into letting you absorb him (let him think you're going to allow him to absorb you, then turn it around - for 96000 XP). If you find yourself with no choice but to be absorbed, back off and stop the conversation. You can always absorb the Good Incarnation (32000 XP, but again, make sure you exhaust all the conversation paths before you do so - especially the one where you learn that the Good Incarnation was the very first Incarnation - for 96000 XP more). You can also easily absorb the Paranoid Incarnation (speak to him in the language of the Uyo, then absorb him for 64000 XP). Finally, if you can't absorb the Practical Incarnation, then you'll just have to beat the crap out of him, won't you? :-)
Once you've dealt with all 3 of your incarnations, Deionarra appears. Before you speak to her, it's time to tap the resources of the Bronze Sphere, which you now know to be a dead sensory stone. This nets you 2000000 XP (that's 2 million, bud), 6+ Characteristic points (depending on your INT and WIS), and you discover your name! Also, you acquire a fantastic spell: "Rune of Torment", that you can put in a quick item slot and invoke as many times as you want without resting - even if you're not a Mage! Unfortunately, if you didn't explore all the conversation trees while talking to the Practical and Good Incarnations, this opportunity is not available to you. However, you don't need to use the Sphere in order to complete the game, unless you're a Mage and want access to all those neat Level 9 spells you now have in your possession. Anyway, speak to Dei now, and tell her the truth about what you've done to her. You wind up on the Fortress roof...As you walk to the centre of the roof, you'll come across your dead party members. The Transcendent One, your other half, is hovering about on the far side of the roof. Head over there, and now it's time for the Final Confrontation. You can play this out 5 different ways:
Well, that's about it. You spend the better part of eternity atoning for your sins in the Blood War, then become re-incarnated as a used car salesman on the outskirts of Birmingham. You marry a girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to Annah (sans tail, of course), and sire a lone child - Ted - who for some mysterious reason is horribly scarred from birth... funny ol' game, huh?
- If you were able to use the Bronze Sphere, you can talk to him about your recently acquired name. He will reluctantly agree to merge with you. You resurrect all your friends, then go off to fight in the Blood War. This is the most satisfactory ending.
- Threaten him with using the Blade on yourself. He agrees to merge with you. Same ending as 1 above.
- Take your own life with the Blade of the Immortal. You both perish abruptly. Most unsatisfactory.
- You can resurrect just one of your fallen party members, but this only pisses him off and you'll have to fight him (see 5 below. If you do choose this option, make sure it's Vhailor that you bring back to life. His need for justice at any cost somehow makes him all the more fearsome during this ultimate battle :-)
- Fight him. He has about 400 HP. Once you defeat him, you get 64000 XP (as if it matters at this stage in the proceedings). This ending also sees you going off to fight in the Blood War. You don't get to resurrect all your party members after you fight the Transcendent One, so these last 2 endings aren't the greatest either.
Important Items
Things you wouldn't want to miss. I was originally intending to document every item, ranging from the lowly bandage all the way up to the most powerful of weapons and scrolls... but I soon realised that this was an incredibly ambitious undertaking! The list became way too large, and I finally had to pare it down to only the significant items. These items are difficult or costly to obtain - perhaps only becoming available as the result of completing a quest or joining one of the factions - and are usually imbued with some sort of magic :-)
Note that if an item can be found in many places, I only list the first 1 or 2 places where you would normally come across one of these items.
What Where Why and How Enchanted Hammer Weeping Stone Catacombs, Mosaic Crypt, sarcophagus Damage: 2-9 Crushing
Enchanted: +1
THACO: +1
Speed: 7
Weight: 5
Proficiency: Hammers
Usable only by FightersSevered Arm Weeping Stone Catacombs, Dismembered Crypt, downstairs Usable as a club, but much more useful for obtaining some new tattoos at Fell's. Xachariah's Heart Mortuary, 1st floor, zombie #331 Adds +1 to DEX, and +1 to AC vs. Missile Attacks
Usable only by FightersEnchanted Battle Axe Drowned Nations, small room in SE of your tomb, sarcophagus Damage: 2-9 Slashing
Enchanted: +1
THACO: +1
Speed: 6
Weight: 4
Proficiency: Axes
Usable only by Fighters"Death of Desire" The Hive - Gathering Dust bar, Emoric Damage: 2-7 Crushing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
1-6 Piercing Damage
Causes Stunning
THACO: +2
Speed: 5
Weight: 11
Proficiency: Clubs
Usable only by Fighters
Usable only by Dustmen
You must join the Dustmen faction to get access to this weapon.Divine Censer The Hive - Gathering Dust bar, Emoric / The Hive - Ragpicker's Square, Old Mebbeth Invokes "Raise Dead"
Good for at least 3 goes at raising your dead comrades.Amber Earrings The Hive - Ragpicker's Square, Old Mebbeth Special:
+2 to Armor Class
Memorize 2 Additional 1st Level Mage Spells
Weight: 0
Usable only by Mages
Usable only by Nameless One
Mebbeth presents these to you upon completion of your training as a Mage.Scroll of Remove Curse The Hive - Ragpicker's Square, Old Mebbeth / The Great Foundry, Godsman Hall, Keldor of Durian Level: 4 / Wizard
Usable only by Mages
Can be used to remove a curse/cursed item from a person."Ascension" The Great Foundry, Godsman Hall, Keldor of Durian Damage: 3-10 Slashing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
+2 Slashing Damage
+1 to Charisma
+1 to Armor Class
THACO: +2
Speed: 4
Weight: 4
Proficiency: Axes
Usable only by Fighters
Usable only by Godsmen
You must join the Godsmen faction to get access to this weapon."Reason" The Great Foundry, Godsman Hall, Keldor of Durian Damage: 5-12 Crushing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
+2 Crushing Damage
+1 to Charisma
+1 to Armor Class
THACO: +2
Speed: 6
Weight: 5
Proficiency: Hammers
Usable only by Fighters
Usable only by Godsmen
You must join the Godsmen faction to get access to this weapon."Enlightenment" The Great Foundry, Godsman Hall, Keldor of Durian Damage: 2-7 Piercing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
+2 Piercing Damage
+1 to Charisma
+1 to Armor Class
THACO: +2
Speed: 1
Weight: 1
Proficiency: Daggers
Usable only by Fighters
Usable only by Godsmen
You must join the Godsmen faction to get access to this weapon.Scroll of Chain Lightning Storm The Great Foundry, Godsman Hall, Keldor of Durian Level: 6 / Wizard
Usable only by Mages
Does 7-70 points worth of fire damage to all enemies within range.Scroll of Cloudkill Lower Ward, The Warehouse, Conall / Clerk's Ward, Curiosity Shop, Vrischika Level: 5 / Wizard
Usable only by Mages
Kills all susceptible creatures within range. Your best bet against Larval Worms!Scroll of Power Word, Blind Clerk's Ward, Civic Festhall, Splinter Level: 8 / Wizard
Usable only by Mages
Blinds up to 100 HP worth of enemies for a duration varying by how many enemies are affected (the less affected, the longer the blindnes lasts).Scroll of Power Word, Kill Grimoire of Pestilential Thought Level: 9 / Wizard
Range: 15 feet per 2 levels
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: None
Usable only by Mages
Kills outright any victim with up to 120 HP. I had to kill one of my companions before the Grimoire of Pestilential Thought would fork this one over. Oddly enough, my alignment remained at Neutral Good?!Hammer of Comminution Clerk's Ward, Curiosity Shop, Vrischika Damage: 4-14 Crushing
Enchanted: +1
Special: 1-6 Acid Damage
THACO: +2
Speed: 10
Weight: 10
Proficiency: Hammers
Usable only by Fighters
The most bad-ass weapon in the game!Punch Daggers of Shar Lower Ward, Siege Tower, Coaxmetal Damage: 1-4 Piercing
Enchanted: +3
Special:
+2 to All Saving Throws
+35% Resistance to Magic
Speed: 2
Weight: 2
Proficiency: Fists
Usable only by Fighters and ThievesBrimstone Hammer Player's Maze, NE section, campfire / Lower Ward, Siege Tower, Coaxmetal Damage: 2-9 Crushing
Enchanted: +1
Special:
+4 Fire Damage
+25% Resistance to Fire
THACO: +1
Speed: 7
Weight: 5
Proficiency: Hammers
Usable only by FightersSpiked Gauntlets of Ogre Power Lower Ward, Siege Tower, Coaxmetal Damage: 4-6 Crushing
Damage: 4-6 Piercing
Enchanted: +1
THACO: +3
Speed: 1
Weight: 2
Proficiency: Fists
Usable only by Fighters and ThievesThe Grimoire of Pestilential Thought Lower Ward, underneath Lothar the Mage's house, Mantuok the wererat Only useful to Mages, and only those leaning toward the dark side... once identified this book talks to you! You can get some powerful spells from it, but you need to perform some cruel deeds before the Grimoire will fork over :-( Bolts of Whistling Doom Modron Maze / Outer Curst, Crumplepunch the smith Damage: 4-16 Crushing
Enchanted: +2
THACO: +2
Speed: 10
Weight: 0
Proficiency: Missiles
This is Nordom's ultimate weapon, but they are quickly depleted. Use them wisely! You should find a few packs of 10 on the dead High Threat Constructs in the Modron Maze, but you can also buy them from Crumplepunch the smith in Outer Curst.Bolts of Kessek the Devourer Modron Maze (Minor Artifacts)
Damage: 4-8 Piercing
Enchanted: +2
THACO: +4
Speed: 5
Weight: 0
Proficiency: Missiles
Only managed to find one pack of these on a dead High Threat Construct in the Modron Maze.Dodecahedron Clerk's Ward, Civic Festhall, your private quarters This is another one of your journals in disguise! You need to seek out Finam the linguist in order to decipher the strange language it's written in. Bodice of the Godless Priestess Clerk's Ward, Goncalves the tailor Armor Class 5
Special:
Memorize 3 Additional 1st level Priest spells
Memorize 2 Additional 2nd level Priest spells
Weight: 5
Usable only by Fall-From-Grace
Doesn't do anything for Grace's AC, but the 5 extra spell slots are a great boon.Bodice of the Perilous Quest Clerk's Ward, Goncalves the tailor Armor Class 5
Special: Increases Regeneration
Weight: 6
Usable only by Fall-From-Grace
Gives Grace a regeneration ability much like that of TNO.Jerkin of the Brazen Rogue Clerk's Ward, Goncalves the tailor Armor Class 4
THACO: +1
Weight: 12
Usable only by Annah
Knocks 4 points off Annah's AC! Also makes her a better fighter.Jerkin of the Flitting Shadow Clerk's Ward, Goncalves the tailor Armor Class 6
Special:
+15% Pick Pocket Skill Bonus
+25% Stealth Skill Bonus
Weight: 8
Usable only by Annah
Knocks 2 points off Annah's AC and improves her Thief skills.Mad Splinter Clerk's Ward, Galleria, Stone Statue Damage: 2-5 Piercing
Enchanted: +1
Special:
Poisons Target
Fragile, Breakable
Speed: 1
Weight: 1
Proficiency: Edged
Not usable by Priests
One of the more useful Edged weapons in the game, but prone to breaking.Lens of Inherent Viciousness Clerk's Ward, Curiosity Shop, Vrischika Special: +2 to Damage
THACO: +2 to Missile Weapons
Usable only by Modrons
Makes Nordom all that more... vicious :-)Deionarra's Wedding Ring Clerk's Ward, Advocate's House, Iannis Special:
+1 to All Saving Throws
+1 to Armor Class
+3 to Armor Class vs. Piercing
Weight: 0
Usable only by Nameless One
When you collect Deionarra's legacy this is one of the items you receive.Kaleidoscopic Eye Clerk's Ward, Advocate's House, Iannis Invokes "Chromatic Orb" when held
Special: Equipped
+1 to All Saving Throws
+1 to Save vs. Spells
+5% Resistance to Magic
Weight: 0
Usable only by Good creatures
When you collect the legacy numbered '51-AA' that you found out about from reading the Dodecahedron, this is one of the items you receive.Ravel's Fingernail Ravel's Maze, Ravel (Unique, Artifact) Damage: 2-7 Piercing
Enchanted: +2
Special: 1-12 Poison Damage
THACO: +2
Speed: 1
Weight: 1
Proficiency: Edged
Not usable by Priests
You get this weapon off Ravel's body.Assassin's Knuckles Outer Curst, Crumplepunch the smith Damage: 1-10 Piercing
Enchanted: +3
Special:
Causes Stunning
Silence
Poison
THACO: +3
Speed: 1
Weight: 1
Proficiency: Fists
Usable only by Thieves
One of the better hand-to-hand weapons in the game!"Foolsmiter" Outer Curst, Crumplepunch the smith Damage: 4-14 Crushing
Enchanted: +2
THACO: +2
Speed: 10
Weight: 15
Proficiency: Hammers
Usable only by FightersBlind Terror Outer Curst, Crumplepunch the smith Damage: 1-2 Crushing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
Causes Blindness
2-8 Acid Damage
THACO: +2
Speed: 5
Weight: 4
Proficiency: Clubs
Usable only by Thieves
Not much up-front damage... but the possibility of causing Acid Damage and/or blindness makes this a formidable weapon.Scroll of Abyssal Fury Outer Curst, Traitor's Gate tavern, Kitla Level: 9 / Wizard
Range: 50 feet
Duration: Instant
Speed: 9
Area of effect: 1 creature
Usable only by Mages
Kitla gives you this scroll when you complete the quest for her part of the Key. Undoubtedly one of the most powerful spells in the game. Even a successful saving throw results in a lot of damage to the victim, whereas a failure to save means instant death! Unfortunately, it's doubtful that you or anyone in your party will have attained a sufficient Mage level to use it... just yet, that is :-)
"Celestial Fire" Curst Underground, Prison - Inner Sanctum, Cassius / Carceri, Administration Building - 3rd floor, Trias Damage: 3-18 Slashing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
+2 to Armor Class
+10 Fire Damage
+10% Resistance to Slashing Attacks
THACO: +2
Speed: 3
Weight: 5
Proficiency: Edged
Usable only by Lawful Good characters
Obviously the best sword in the game, but there'd have to be a catch, wouldn't there? You can only use it if you're of Lawful Good alignment.Hatred's Gift Outlands, Fhjull Forked-Tongue Damage: 3-13 Slashing
Enchanted: +1
Special: Berserk when used
THACO: +1
Speed: 7
Weight: 7
Proficiency: Axes
Not usable by Good characters
Not a very useful weapon, because the item is cursed. The user goes berserk and loses control in battle.Scroll of Globe of Invulnerability Outlands, Fhjull Forked-Tongue Level: 6 / Wizard
Range: 0 feet
Duration: 5 seconds per level
Speed: 3
Area of effect: 5 feet radius
Saving throw: None
Usable only by Mages
Allows all spells that you cast to flow outwards, but only spells of level 5 or greater to come inwards.
Scroll of Stygian Ice Storm Outlands, Fhjull Forked-Tongue Level: 7 / Wizard
Range: 50 feet
Duration: Special
Speed: 7
Area of effect: 50 ft x 50 ft area
Saving throw: Special
Usable only by Mages
Does 8-64 points of ice damage, with no saving throw - plus confuses all affected for 5-30 seconds, due to forgetful effect of River Styx.
Scroll of Chain Lightning Storm Outlands, Fhjull Forked-Tongue Level: 6 / Wizard
Range: 50 feet
Duration: Special
Speed: 6
Area of effect: 50 ft x 50 ft area
Saving throw: 1/2
Usable only by Mages
Does up to 70 points of damage, with saving throw reducing this to half.
Scroll of Acid Storm Outlands, Fhjull Forked-Tongue Level: 7 / Wizard
Range: 30 feet
Duration: 30 seconds
Speed: 7
Area of effect: 20 ft radius up to 20 ft high
Saving throw: 1/2
Usable only by Mages
Does 1-6 points of acid damage per level of caster every 5 seconds, with saving throw reducing this to half.
Scroll of Bladestorm Outlands, Fhjull Forked-Tongue Level: 7 / Wizard
Range: 75 feet
Duration: Instant
Speed: 7
Area of effect: 10 yards per level radius
Saving throw: 1/2
Usable only by Mages
Inflicts 1-8 points of damage per level of the caster, plus an additional 2-20 points of damage on a natural roll of 20 (and it's obvious that sporadic bits of the AD&D rules found their way straight into the game text!)
Aegis of Torment Curst Gone, fiend from Moridor's box Special:
+3 to Constitution
+15 to Base Hit Points
+3 to Armor Class
Weight: 0
This fiend, in the form of a Greater Glabrezu, is especially tough to beat, but is it worth it for the XP and this artefact? You bet!Scroll of Deathbolt Carceri, Tovus Level: 8 / Wizard
Range: 100 feet
Duration: Instant
Speed: 9
Area of effect: 1 creature
Saving throw: Special
Usable only by Mages
Tovus gives you this scroll after you free him and Berrog from being pinned under the cart. Kills target creature if no saving throw is made, else deals out 10-60 points of damage.
Scroll of Desert Hell Carceri, Warehouse, Ebb Creakknees Level: 5 / Wizard
Range: 50 feet
Duration: Instant
Speed: 5
Area of effect: 50 x 50 ft
Saving throw: 1/2
Usable only by Mages
Does 2-40 points of fire damage, with saving throw reducing this to half.
Ancient Scroll Carceri, Warehouse, left of entrance in pile of boards Turns out to be a Wish Scroll. If TNO is at least a level 12 Mage, he can use it once to wish for any one of the following:
- Arcane Knowledge. This choice conjures up the following spells: Power Word (Kill), Stygian Ice Storm, and Meteor Storm Bombardment
- An Increase in Abilities (+2 to one of your stats)
- An Item of Power. Produces the Ring of Thex, which adds dramatically to your HP, AC, and adds 2 to all saving throws
- You can heal your entire party
- 10,000 CP in wealth
Mark of the Savant Carceri, Administration Building - 3rd floor, locked and trapped desk Damage: 3-18 Piercing
Enchanted: +4
Special:
+2 to Armor Class
+1 to Dexterity
+15 to Base Hit Points
+25% Open Locks Skill Bonus
+25% Stealth Skill Bonus
+10% Detect Trap Skill Bonus
THACO: +3
Speed: 2
Weight: 3
Proficiency: Fists
Usable only by Thieves
Best item for Annah (or yourself as a Thief) in the game, bar none!"Edge of Oblivion" Carceri, Administration Building - 3rd floor, locked and trapped desk Damage: 2-9 Slashing
Enchanted: +2
Special:
1-6 Cold Damage to target
+50% Resistance to Cold
+25% Resistance to Magical Cold
THACO: +1
Speed: 8
Weight: 10
Proficiency: Axes
Not usable by Good characters
A good weapon for Vhailor.Vrock Club Carceri, Administration Building - 3rd floor, locked and trapped desk Damage: 4-16 Crushing
Enchanted: +2
Special: Poisons Target
THACO: +2
Speed: 3
Weight: 4
Proficiency: Clubs
Only usable by Thieves
Made from a poisonous creature called a 'vrock', this weapons deals out poison damage in addition to tremendous crushing damage.Scroll of Celestial Host Carceri, Administration Building - 3rd floor, Trias Level: 9 / Wizard
Range: 100 feet
Duration: Instant
Speed: 9
Area of effect: 50 ft. x 50 ft. area
Saving throw: None
Usable only by Mages
A truly awesome spell. Deals out 40-120 points of damage, with no saving throw possible!
Entropic Blade Lower Ward, Siege Tower, Coaxmetal Damage: 3-23 (type of damage varies)
Enchanted: +2
THAC0: +2
Speed: 1
Weight: 1
Proficiency: Edged, Axes, Hammers, or Fists!
Usable only by Fighters
You can obtain this weapon when you return to Sigil from Carceri, and visit Coaxmetal again (you have to give him the Modron Cube. Probably not a good thing for the Planes, but what the heck). By talking to it, you can change its form to suit your fighting skills!
Important People
Characters you'll meet throughout the course of the game who may join your party.
Who Where Why and How Morte The Mortuary - 2nd floor Morte joins your party immediately you awake on the slab in the Mortuary at the beginning of the game. Of course, you can always get rid of him, but I found him to be a useful Fighter (especially during the early part of the game where TNO is relatively weak), and for the most part welcomed his banter throughout the game. Dak'kon The Hive - SE region, Smoldering Corpse bar You can acquire the githzerai Dak'kon in the Smoldering Corpse bar. He's a multi-classed Fighter/Mage who comes with a small arsenal of githzerai-specific spells, but he can memorise other spells too. It's unusual for a gith to be subservient to a human, but you'll find out the reason for this in due time. Whether or not you intend on becoming a Mage, it's worth it for a brief time alone - if only for Dak'kon to teach you the Way of Zerthimon :-) Annah Buried Village, Pharod's lair Ah, dear Annah! The love interest in this game, though it's a quirky touch-and-go affair at best. Annah will not join your party until you present the Bronze Sphere to Pharod. She's a Thief, and the only weapons she can use are Punch Daggers. Fortunately, you find more powerful variations of these as you progress through the game (plus some armour made especially for her), and she eventually becomes a tenacious scrapper. Ignus The Hive - SE region, Smoldering Corpse bar Ignus the Mage will join your party once you put his fire out using the Decanter of Endless Water. Like Dak'kon, he comes pre-equipped with indigenous (fire based) spells, but can use any other Mage spell. If you're a Mage too, then Ignus can eventually do something with your Intestines... Fall-From-Grace Clerk's Ward, Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts You need to solve all the problems concerning her students before Grace will join your party. She's the only Priest in the game, and invaluable for her healing skills. Also, she's as good looking as TNO is ugly, thus providing some balance to the party's appearance :-)
Grace also possesses a very high Lore skill, and can identify quite a few items without having to resort to Identify spell or Charm of Infinite Recall.Nordom Modron Maze You have to set the difficulty of the Modron Maze/Dungeon to 'hard' and work your way through a load of High Threat Constructs in order to find Nordom. Nordom is a great Fighter, and the better class of arrows you find for him, the better he gets! Vhailor Curst Underground, Prison You'll miss out on Vhailor if you don't look past the exit portal from the Prison, as I did the first time I played. Vhailor is a strong Fighter with a lot of HP... but you may find it difficult to get his AC down to a decent level as you acquire him towards the latter part of the game, when all the enchanted rings and such are already being used by other party members :-(
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank the following people for contributing to the latest version of this guide. Thanks very much for the tips and corrections :-)
Donald Raoul
Copyright © Steve Metzler for the Games Domain - September, 2000. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without written permission from the author.