DARK EARTH

Walkthrough by CRASH



AUTHOR NOTES

This is a great game by Kalisto (formerly known as Mindscape, the one that brought you Dragon Lore's series). The story and graphics are very good. There are several ways to solve the puzzle : you can do it the hard ways (using force and fighting; you can kill almost everyone) or the soft one (just by speaking and cheating). Just like the methode in The Last Express or Tomb Raider, you can only save your game in several places by clicking on the sign of the Sun God.

The meaning of 'Real time adventure' is that events changing and happening on somewhere else while you're doing something. So maybe your action will change something else in another place or maybe not. So try different action on one puzzle, too see different story plots. I give you the hints that should explain the main plot. On the bottom line, this game is worth to try by a newcomer or hardcore adventurer. It maybe too easy for the action lover and puzzle solver, but the story is depth enough to put you for a while on your seat. Enjoy ...

Several Tips :
1. Close all resident programs before you launch this game. Some program may crash the game eventually
2. Use the food to increase your energy
3. Don't waste ammo in the beginning of the game
4. Weapons can break, be prepare for change
5. Use your time wisely, the clock is ticking
6. Don't use your special attack too much. It will make the poison affect faster.
7. You can repair weapon (not if it has broken) at Danry
Late addition :
Another Yong solution from Kovacs Adrian
Finding Zed Thunderbolt in Tragic Path from Maik Gosenshuis

THE CURSE

You wake up in bed with Kalhi. After talking with her, take the meat on the table. Pick up that sabre by the crate and wear the Guardian of Fire uniform by the corner (there's a Save #1 here). Open the door and step out. Meet Zed. He told you to find Phrovost Dhorkan for your assignment. Enter the door with guard in front of it, just left of your room. Talk with Dhorkan. He wants you to guard the Great Temple. Just next to Dhorkan's room, there is a room with Dark Earth's programmer names scattered around on its wall.

Do some fighting exercises with Phedoria and Zed upstair. Pick up the battle axe on the floor. Then go downstair. Greet Teskin and Garn, your friends (another Save #2). Walkout to the Great Square where you see Lory talking with your father, Rylsadhar. Note : There are 4 main buildings in this Great Square; The Palace, The Great Temple of The Sun God, The Builder Palace, and Platform to Lower City.

You can follow your father to his house by climbing down the stair next to the Temple. But he'll order you to go back to your post in the Temple. Enter the Temple and talk to Zedar, the Head Guard. Suddenly, you hear a noise from behind the door. Open it and watch the movie sequence. You're poisoned by the Black Rot brought by Archessence, Konkalites's man. When you wake up at the hospital (another Save #3), kill the guard and take his battle axe.


FINDING RYLSADHAR

Thanandar, the healer, tells you to find your father. He knows something about the crypt. Inside this hideous place, you'll find the cure for your illness. Walk into the lab. Get flask and the dagger on the shelf. Get out from the hospital and enter your father's house. Talk with him. He will help you after he meet Dhorkan. Get flagon on the shelf. Look under his bed and retrieve the parchment. Read it. Hmm... strange.

Go to the dining room inside the Temple (another Save #4). Climb the stair and enter the left door. Talk to Sesekhan, the archivist. Again he tells you to find the crypt. Browse the shelf. Use the parchment to operate the mysterious lock. Take the metal plate key from inside the hidden drawer. Search the fire heater beside the door and pick up the Mirror From Below. Show this 2 items to Sesekhan. He tells you to find Bandor, the Master Builder, at his palace. Bandor will help you on your quest. Go out the Great Square (another Save #5).

Go to the Palace. Talk to Teskin and Garn. They ask you to talk to Dhorkan. Pick up the empty flask on the crate at the left corner. Fill it up with the water from the keg on the table. Climb the stair and enter your bedroom. Talk to Kabat. Ask about your father. Go out and go to Dhorkan's room. Kill the guard. Enter the room and talk with Dhorkan. Strange, he said that he hasn't seen your father. So where does he go ?? Go to the practice room upstair and talk to Phedoria. Darn, she can't help you.

Go downstair to the prison (another Save #6). Kill the guard and take the key and battle axe from its body. Use the key to release Kalhi from the prison.


ACCESS TO LOWER CITY

There are 2 ways to go to Lower City. First, you can go directly there (crossing the Great Square, the platform is on the right building from the Palace) by killing the guard at the platform. But believe me, it's very hard to do that because he has a gun. Second, you can choose the least pain way : by cheating him.

OK, here is the way. After talking to Kalhi, go straight to the opposite door of the prison. You'll arrive in Oil Master tower. Enter the door and climb up the stair. Threat Bogdaron at the tower and he won't give you any trouble. Pick up his key inside a book in the shelf. Climb down the stair and use the key to unlock the chest. Get his uniform. Don't forget to pick up 9 Boilers for Spitood (the yellow things on the floor) and 2 Lead Plagues on the shelf.

Special Notes : You can make more Spitood bullets by using the Lead Plagues in the bullet maker machine in the room just accross your bedroom. One Lead Plague can make 5 bullets. Unlock the chest in that room with Bagdoran's key to get one more Lead Plague (another 5 bullets).

Give the uniform to Kalhi. She will act as a guard and take you safely passing the guard at the platform. Just follow her outside to the Great Square and leave all of the job to her. She will persuade the guard to leave his post. Use the platform to access the Lower City.


ARMAL SADAK

Follow Kalhi to Danry's house, just around the corner. Talk to him about your illness. He told you to find Armal Sadak, the leader of the city. Take the pick axe on the table. Talk to Kalhi and calm her. Get out and ask the cripple man, Kuber, about the city. If you go straight under the passage (another Save #7) and to the right at the intersection, you'll meet the Provider's woman. She will trade things like flagon with some roasted meat. This meat will increase your stamina whenever you get hurt in battle.

Go to the left of the intersection and pass the hanging bridge. Talk with another Scavenger's lady. Ask her about Armal Sadak. She told you to find Delia at the Nightclub. She's the only person that can connect you with him. Enter the Nightclub, just next to the Scavenger. Hmmm.... nice show. Talk to Maor, the bartender. Pick up full gourd on the table. Go to the dressing room. Ask Delia about Armal Sadak. Give her the Mirror from Below. She'll give you a password for Armal Sadak. Go out and turn left (another Save #8).

Follow the path and turn right. You'll see a boathouse. Enter and talk to the guy near a Yong table. He is Armal Sadak. He'll trade some info with a game of Yong. Give your weapons as a bet (Armal Sadak won't accept an used weapon, he only wants new weapons). You could play this game several times until he won't play it anymore. The game is quite hard to defeat. Small hints : TRY TO CONQUER THE DIAGONAL ROW AND THE CORNER. After you beat him twice, he'll give you an info about where the Konkalites hangabout and the conspiracy between Sordos, Dhorkan, and someone else behind them.

Here is the solution for Yong, yup it will make your day easier :

9 5 15 28
25 20 13
3 2 16 10 27
14 white black 26
11 black black 24
7 1 black 6 18
30 29 4 17 23
21 8 12 19 22

ADD-ON : This is another solution of Yong game from Kovacs Adrian ......
Imagine the gameboard as a chessboard, numbered from 1 to 8 vertically and A to H horizontally. The steps to take are the following: F6, C3, C5, E3, A7, F3, D1, F5, B1, H7, H6, F1, A5, H3, F7, C8, H5, B7, C7. After this all black pieces are eliminated...

Notes : The path can be twisted starting from here. Both path ends up the same; at the Lory's room. The only different things are : how and where Zed and Rylsadhar will die, different enemy for fighting, and a special weapon : Zed's Thunderbolt which you can only gain in the second path.


TRAGIC PATH

Notes : You'll have to kill Zed, your closest friend, with your own hands if you use this path. The fighting scenario is much much harder, but you'll see more movie clips.

Go back to Upper City with the platform and enter the Temple. Face that instrument machine. Climb the moving ladder. Use the metal plate key on the machine. Move around the machine and pull the small lever. It will open a door nearby. Enter the room. Examine the red keyhole below the crystal.

Find Thanandar in the hospital. Save your game. Enter his lab and watch how he make a frankenstein with the machine. Kill him and the undead. Get the red key, Thanandar's potion, and a vial from Thanandar's body. You can drink the potion to reduce your infection and the vial to raise your stamina (I prefer to leave them for later).

Go outside and enter the temple. Go directly to the crystal room. Use the red key with the keyhole below the crystal. It will open the entrance to the crypt. Enter the crypt and touch the light. NOOOO..... Thanandar has lied to you, there's no cure for your illness in this crypt (it only reduce your infection).

Go back to Lower City and jump to the sewer (the entrance is in front of Armal's boat). Go down the passage (you'll meet 2 guards on the way, kill them and take their weapons) until you reach a staircase leading up. Climb up (another Save #9). Climb down the staircase into the headquarter. Watch the movie and see that ugly Sordos mobilized his army. After the movie is over, kill another guard. Take his spear. Continue your investigation. Kill another 2 guards below. (Or for an easier way : drug them with Gourd of Stohl. One will get drunk, and the other is easy to defeat). Take their weapons. Search the wooden boxes on the right and retrieve metal handle from it. Enter the left bridge. Kill the big guy. Get Konkalites' key. Unlock the gate with this key. Meet Zed and watch the movie. Oh noooo .... he has been contaminated just like you. Zed will attack you. Kill him. Enter the archway where the guard stand before.

ADD-ON : After you kill Zed, you could take his thunderbolt from the dungeon. Search the room where you killed Zed. The thunderbolt lies between the bench and the right skeleton.

You will see Sordos. Kill him. Get Sordos' weapon and key from his dead body. Collect foods from several wooden barrels (fish, toast, and meat). Use Sordos' key to unlock the chest. Get his document and read it. That's the evidence about the conspiracy. Get his weapon plans on the throne chair. Go to Danry's house. Give him the weapon diagram and the metal handle. He'll make a Flame Thrower for you.

Get out and head into the Palace. Go to Dhorkan's office. Show the document to Phedoria. She'll trust you and break into Dhorkan's room. But alas, he's escape. Phedoria will ask you to follow the man while she tells Lory about this incident. Search Dhorkan's desk twice (left drawer and right drawer) to get vial and Dhorkan's stiletto. Search for a hidden mechanism on the left wall where he's escaped. Use the stiletto to unlock the path.

Chase Dhorkan through the secret passage to Lower City. Ask the Provider woman about him. Hmm... no clue. Go see Danry at his place. Darn, Kalhi has gone. Ask him where Kalhi is. Go to Armal Sadak's boat. Play with him for few more games until you have several Zed's Ammo and 2 Machine Gun Ammo (that's when he doesn't want to play again). You should have enough weapon to bet now. Where the hell is Dhorkan, has he vanished into the air ???

Get out from Armal's boat. Enter the tower in front of his boat. Fight the guy who attack Kalhi. Receive a thunderbolt from her. Go to Danry and get your new weapon : the Flame Thrower. Go back to Upper City with the platform. Head into the Temple and go directly to the room where you found the entrance to the crypt. THANANDAR and father ?! Thanandar will attack you and fleed. Follow Rylsadhar to the crypt. NOOOO..... the crystal kills him. Get out and meet Lory.


Dramatic Path


Notes : I personally prefer to take this path. You won't have to kill any of your friends, the fighting scenario is a lot easier, and get Zed's Thunderbolt.

Get out from Sardak's boat and jump to the sewer. Go down the passage (you'll meet 2 guards on the way, kill them and take their weapons) until you reach a staircase leading up. Climb up (another Save #9). Climb down the staircase into the headquarter. Watch the movie and see that ugly Sordos mobilized his army. After the movie is over, kill another guard. Take his spear. Continue your investigation. Kill another 2 guards below (Or for an easier way : drug them with Gourd of Stohl. One will get drunk, and the other is easy to defeat). Collect a handle from the wooden box on the right side. Enter the archway where the guard stand before (don't enter the left bridge yet, I'll explain that to you later).

You will see Thanandar and Sordos talking to each other. That evil Thanandar !!!! He's the one behind all of this. Kill Sordos and Thanandar. Get Sordos' weapon, a weapon diagram, and Sordos' key from his dead body. Get the red key, Thanandar's potion, and a vial from Thanandar's body. You can drink the potion to reduce your infection and the vial to raise your stamina (I prefer to leave them for later). Collect foods from several wooden barrels (fish, toast, and meat). Use Sordos' key to unlock the chest. Get his document and read it. That's the evidence about the conspiracy.

Get out from the room. Now it's up to you : you can pass the left bridge into the prison or you can leave that place for a while and come back later. If you choose to go the prison, you'll have to kill 2 mean guards and gain NOTHING. The jail is empty by the way. But if you come back later (I'll tell you when), you'll have to face only 1 easy guard and have a special advantage. Go to Danry's house. Give him the weapon diagram and the handle. He will make a special weapon for you.

Go outside and back to the Upper City. Enter the temple and face that huge instrument machine. Climb the moving ladder. Use the metal plate key on the machine. Move around the machine and pull the small lever. It will open a door nearby. Enter the room. Use the red key with the keyhole below the crystal. It will open the entrance to the crypt. Enter the crypt and touch the light. NOOOO..... Thanandar has lied to you, there's no cure for your illness in this crypt (it only reduce your infection).

Get out and head into the Palace. Go to Dhorkan's office. Show the document to Phedoria. She'll trust you and break into Dhorkan's room. But alas, he's escape. Phedoria will ask you to follow the man while she tells Lory about this incident. Search Dhorkan's desk twice (left drawer and right drawer) to get vial and Dhorkan's stiletto. Search for a hidden mechanism on the left wall where he's escaped. Use the stiletto to unlock the path. Enter the secret path and NOOOOO..... father ??!! He's dying. He tells you that Thanandar still alive and wants to attack the Crystal Power at the crypt. But how can that be ??? I kill him myself.

Chase Dhorkan through the secret passage to Lower City. Ask the Provider woman about him. Hmm... no clue. Go see Danry at his place. Darn, Kalhi has gone. Ask him where Kalhi is. Search the Konkalites's headquarters for Dhorkan and Kalhi. Enter the prison. Kill the guard and release the prisoner with your weapon. He thanks you and promise to repay your deed. Darn, no clues about Dhorkan. Go to Armal Sadak's boat. He will thank you with Machine Gun Ammo. Now you can only have to play with Armal for few more games before you get another Machine Gun Ammo (that's when he doesn't want to play again). You should have enough weapon to bet now. Where the hell is Dhorkan, has he vanished into the air ???

Get out from Armal's boat. Enter the tower in front of his boat. Fight the guy who attack Kalhi. Receive a thunderbolt from her. Go to Danry and get your new weapon : the Flame Thrower. Go back to Upper City with the platform. Head into the Temple and go directly to the room where you found the entrance to the crypt. THANANDAR and Zed ???!!! Thanandar will attack you and fleed. Follow Zed to the crypt. NOOOO... the crystal kills him. Get out and meet Lory. Get his belongings, including : Zed's Thunderbolt. Get out and meet Lory.


CRYSTAL KEYS

Follow Lory to his room in the temple. Receive the first crystal key : Bow of Rylsadhar's key (you'll have to collect four of them). After talking to her, get out from the temple. Watch an interesting movie clip : 'THE ATTACK'. If you want to have Spitood weapon, climb down the stair to your father appartment. You'll see 2 Guardians killing the zombie from the lab. Kill them and take their weapons. Go to Builder Palace.

You could just kill the guard. But I'll tell you the easy way : make him drunk. Talk to him several times until he said that he's hungry. Give the fish from Konkalites HQ to him. Then give the full gourd. That should do the trick. Use the elevator (pull that small lever). Meet 2 guys upstair. Oh right, they don't want to tell who Bandor is. Let's force them. No, not with the fight. See that diagram on the table ? Take it. Use it with the fire urn to threat Bandor. One of the guy will confess that he's Bandor. Show the Rylsadhar's key to him and receive the second crystal key : Pointed-cut Crystal.

SECRET PLACE : Pull the left most dragon head statue beside Bandor. It will reveal a hidden compartment just on the left side of Bandor (the brick on the table). Click on it and you'll get a healing vial.

For the third key you have to chase Dhorkan, because he's the one who saw Zed for the last time. Go down and visit Danry. Darn, Kalhi has left again. Talk to Kuber and the Scavenger at the corner. You can take some food from the cart nearby. Find Kalhi at the entrance of the Nightclub. Receive some roast bird from her. How nice ??!!! Enter the Nightclub. Get some meat, bowl and fill your empty gourd behind the counter. Talk to Delia. Go to the place where you've saved Kalhi earlier. Kill Dhorkan. Take Plate from Before (it's a key, actually), Dhorkan's coin, Key crystal, and his sword. Use the plate on the keyslot beside the door. Inside the bunker, take the Unknown Object at the corner. Touch the wiring object at the corner of the room. Ouch .. that hurt !!! Change to Dark Mood and hit the back wall. You'll turn on the control panel in the opposite corner. Activate it and you'll see a Holytrek projection plays. Bring the Unknown object to Danry. He told you to find Bagdaran, the Master of Oiler.

Special Note : You can meet Dhorkan again at the Konkalites' prison after you killed him ???!! He'll explain all about his conspiracy. How can he still be alive and brought to the prison remains a mystery to me (maybe some missprogram ???).

SPECIAL WEAPON : In the bunker, search behind the first sleeping chamber on the left. If you're standing in the correct direction (heading to the left) you'll find the deadliest weapon in this game : Thunderbolt from Before. Save this weapon for final use in fighting Thanandar.


THE STRANGE OBJECT

Go back to Upper City and head to the Palace. Kill the guard and take his Spitood. Go to your bedroom. Talk to Kabak. He knows something too about Leona. Go to Master Oil Tower. Show the Unknown Object to him. Shit, this coward is annoying me. Set to combat mode and threat him by tring to hit him. Now, he can coorporate with you. Give the Unknown Object to him. Climb down and back again upstair. Talk to Bagdaran. He wants to help you if you brought Delia to him.

Go to Lower City and enter the Nightclub. Talk to Delia. Accompany her to Upper City. As you walk out from her room, Maor will attack you. Kill him. Prepare your gun and walk to the platform. Kill the ugly rat monster. Use the platform to the Upper City. Oh my God, the beast has attacked Sparta. Talk to the dying soldier. Go straight to the palace. Prepare your gun again. Kill the beast inside. Go upstair to Bagdaran tower. Talk with him. He'll explain about the object. It is an explosive. Now go back to Lower City. It's time to find Leona.

Special Note : If you want to have little exercise, go down to the prison while you were at the Palace. You could kill both the guard and the prisoner. But nothing useful except for some weapons.


LEONA THE HEALER

Talk to Danry's about the explosive. Darn, Kalhi is missing again. Go to the tower and browse around for a while. Under the stair of the tower, you can find a jerry can. Climb the stair to the top (another Save #10). Follow the path until you see a man being attacked by Konkalite's soldier. Kill the soldier and received Metal Suit Armor from the man you saved (he knows something about Leona). The armor contains an oxygen tube.

Go to the sewer. You'll see Kalhi is fighting with someone. Set to Aggresive mode after you talk nicely to him and he doesn't want to go. Threaten him. Receive another Zed's ammo.

Special Cheat : If you just kill the man, you'll have an unexhausted source of Zed's ammo. Search the body and take the ammo. Search again (although you got a message nothing on it) and click 'I'. There's your ammo again. You can do it again and again until you're satisfied.

Jump into the sewer and head inside until you see a ladder going deep into the water. Save your game here and get ready to have a hard fight. Wear that Metal suit and climb down the ladder. Kill the sea creature inside. At the fourth screen from the start, you'll see skeleton on the left side. Take Thunderbolt's ammo from it. Continue your path until you reach Darkland. Get ready your weapon and kill the 2 monsters. Walk around the corner and enter the cave. Take the left path until you reach a small lake with green small crystal nearby.

Kill the water creature. Then use the pick axe with the green crystal to get some slivers (that's your final crystal key). Climb up to Leona's hut (another Save #11). Talk with her. He'll explain about how the water from the small lake can counteract the poison. Go down and drink the water. Although it couldn't cure you completely, it can reduce your infection a lot (but you'll loose some of your life point for it). Go back to the shore. Wear the metal suit and head back again to Lower City.

Go back to Danry and give him the green crystal's sliver. He'll make a special key for you. Return to the Upper City. Go to Rylsadhar's room. Use the special key with the keyhole on the wall. Enter his secret chamber. Read the book on the left shelf and take that note from under the shelf. Browse the big book on the right shelf and retrieve a painting. Set to Aggresive mode and lift up the small telescope. Underneath it you'll see a large steel key. Take it. Go to the temple. Strange, where are the guards ?? Instead of walking to Lory's room, enter Sesekhan's room first. He'll tell you about the attack in Lory's room. Go there and find out that Lory and Phedoria has been dead. Go back and calm Sesekhan.

Go back to Lower City and visit Danry. Oh no, he's dead. Take his belongings. Return to Upper City. It's time for some action.

A little twisted out path : If you don't want to get the fourth crystal key from Leona, you can get it with an easier path. After killing Dorkhan and take the third keys, don't enter the bunker yet. Instead, go to the upper city and visit the jail. Kill the new guard. Get the key and unlock the jail. Inside you'll find Kalhi. Kill the konkalites. Change to Dark Mood. Kick the bunk to get the fourth crystal key.


THE TOMB

Use the large steel key to open the grate at the centre of the Great Square. Throw the unknown object (explosive) into the grate and RUN LIKE HELL !!! If you're standing near the grate, you'll be dead. After the explosion, walk around the big hole and examine the spear on the ground. It's missing its part. Check out the Crystal room at the temple. You'll meet Sesekhan crying. Calm him and DON'T kill him. Get out again and climb down the stair to the hospital. Look at the ground near the fountain's ruin. You'll see the missing blade. Combine it with the spear (set it on the base of the spear). Set to Aggresive mode and jump to the big hole.

Enter the archway and continue the path until the big door close behind you. Walk around and see that the cliff are too high to climb (there's another Save #12). Now it's time to rebuilt the story of the Runka son. Remember the drawing and the note from Rylsadhar's secret chamber. Now using that lever (starting from the left lever of the big door) you can rebuilt the story : Runka son of the sun comes from the star for help us from the threat of Shankar. Left levers : down, up, up. Right levers : up, down, up.

The key is :

Enter the door. Now for the labyrinth. Timing is everything here. The safest way is to choose the right path. At the end of the labyrinth, save your game (Save #13). Prepare your Thunderbolt from Before and enter the door. This is a hard fight with Thanandar. You can't kill him but you could delay his move for a while. When he's down, you can operate the 2 levers at the big white gate on the opposite wall. Operate both levers until each of the 3 lights in the left and right lit. In my case this combination should do it : L R R L R R R L L L. But I guess their randomize it. If Thanandar gets up while you operating the lever, shoot him again.

Watch the final movie.


SAVE GAME ICONS

There are many Save Game Icons scattered around the Darklands. The icons resemble the Sun God's Icon. Here is the list of them :
    1. On the wall next to your clothes hanger in your bedroom
    2. Right wall of the exit way from the Palace to the Great Square
    3. In the hospital
    4. In the dining room in the temple
    5. On the wall next to the entrance to the Palace in the Great Square
    6. On the wall in the prison
    7. On the carriage's wheel at the main plain in Lower City
    8. Near the Nightclub at Lower City
    9. On the stair at the entrance to Konkalites' Lair
    10. On the stair to the Tower Guard in Lower City
    11. Above the fireplace in Leona's hut
    12. On the left pillar in The Tomb
    13. On the wall in The Tomb

Copyright : CRASH @ December, 1997
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