ULTIMA IX - ASCENSION

RPG by Origin


A solution
----------

by Lu Richardson


GENERAL TIPS

These refer mainly to actual gameplay, not the introductory phase.


Movement:

My first tip is:  get well used to the interface and to controlling the 
character.  The middle of a combat is not the best time to learn.  

Because of the changes in perspective as you move, you can easily 
lose track of where you are and miss important items, so be very 
observant indeed.

Exploring indoors:

Watch out for secret doors which blend into the stone wall so that you would 
never suspect they are there.  Look at the walls from different angles as you go 
past, you might spot the tell-tale lines.  There are also subtly hidden switches 
(bricks slightly different to the others) and levers (behind bushes, etc.).  

Exploring outdoors:

Keep your eyes on the landscape near and far and look for hidden caves.  Try to 
swim around the coast of each location to see if you can spot items and 
underwater caves.

Items:

As to items, you are going to find such a lot, and you have such 
poor carrying capacity, that you are going to have to be ruthless.  
Either that or come back to the shops frequently to sell the 
surplus, which is not always easy.  Doubtful items can be left in 
your room at the Castle; indeed, leave everything you can there.  

As you explore, move/smash barrels and crates, sometimes they hide 
or contain items.  Always have with you a couple of healing and cure 
poison potions, at least.  If you need room for more items and don't 
know what to get rid of, eat whatever food you are carrying.  As a 
general rule, don't cart reagents about with you.  They are usually 
found near a lab or binding circle where they will be used, so leave them there 
till you need them; alternatively, buy them in the shops nearby.

Whatever you drop, in this game, you'll find when you come by later on.  So, if 
you must to make room, drop things in accessible places and not in the depths of 
dungeons... and remember where you left them! 
Maps:

The maps are pathetic and exploring is a veritable nightmare.  If 
you keep to the paths you'll miss a hell of a lot.  So try covering 
a bit of ground at a time and don't be tempted to go that little bit 
further away which will only confuse you.  Be very thorough.  The idea is to get 
to know the terrain and where everything important is located.  The 
play area is huge, so you have to be careful.  It is the devil to 
find the places you are meant to go to and you can very easily get 
lost.

Sights:

Always click on the blue "magic balls", which you will see in many locations, to 
get glimpses and clues of other places.  Use all telescopes you find - some of 
them can be used twice to see other places.

People:

Talk to everybody more than once, particularly both before and after you've 
cleansed a shrine in the neighbourhood.  You will be given lots of mini-quests 
which you can solve on your way to the main ones - but don't be too sidetracked.  
You will be told at an early stage that doing the decent thing at all times will 
make life a lot easier for you.  Don't kill ordinary people nor steal from them 
- keep that for the dungeons.  Instead, try to help them if you can, doing so 
earns you karma.  You need it.

Combat:

As to combat, it's always best to fight from a distance, if you can - so 
get a bow as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, more often than not 
you find yourself at close quarters with the nasties, so it is 
advisable to go around (in running mode) with a sword or something equipped so 
that you can go into action at once, and change to the bow whenever you 
are at a sufficient distance from the target to do so without 
danger.  When you've killed the beasties, change at once to a hand 
weapon.  And don't forget to collect the valuables off the dead 
bodies!

Additionally, I found that when fighting hand to hand it is best to turn the 
character slightly to your left rather than place him square on.  For some 
reason this dispatches enemies quicker with practically no loss of hit points.

Armour:

Although the best to be found (usually well hidden) is made of blackrock, it has 
the inconvenient effect of making you sink when you swim.  The next best is 
plate, which can be bought at Trinsic.  However, there are pieces of magic 
armour (also well hidden) which, although they don't protect you as much, are 
well worth wearing for the benefits they confer.  Read the book on the counter 
at the smith's in Britain to find out what some of them do.

Weapons:

You will find progressively more effective weapons as you go along.  I found the 
firesword invaluable for the light it gave.  The lightning sword was hard to 
beat, and the blackrock one the Trinsic smith will make for you is the best of 
all.  However, you will have to see for yourself which weapon is best for which 
nasty.  The skeletons, for instance, require a heavy weapon like an axe, hammer 
or sword - the firesword wouldn't make a dent.

Light:

The annoying thing in this game is that is almost always dark.  There seem to be 
only 8 hours of light a day; even then, the sky gets cloudy, it rains and you 
can't see a thing.  Not very good for your eyes when you are trying to examine 
things carefully.  Therefore, travel abroad in the dark only when you are going 
directly into a dungeon, because then it doesn't matter.  If you wish to see 
where you are going, sleep on the nearest bed until daylight, otherwise you will 
miss all manner of important things.  Needless to say, you must bind the spell 
Light as soon as you can, otherwise you have to use a lot of lanterns and they 
take up a lot of room in your inventory.

Keys:

You will find a lot of keys which are necessary to progress through the 
dungeons, but also a great many other keys which either open chests/doors 
elsewhere or have no function at all.  I ended up carrying 12 of them for which 
I found no use.  However, you might as well play it safe.

Treasure:

You will find hidden here and there "treasure" maps (apart from those of towns) 
and you might like to take time to have a look and see if it is worth your 
trouble to follow them up (i.e., save before you set off - you can always 
reload).  Basically, you can't really do that until you learn to control the 
ship half-way through the game.  

Training:

Talk to people time and again to find out who is offering training.  You have to 
go through certain stages and that means being trained by certain people in a 
certain order.  For instance, after Despise, you will find Iolo in the house at 
the crossroads where the knight hailed you on the way to the dungeon.  However, 
Iolo won't train you until you are proficient with the bow, so you have to be 
trained by others first.

Finally:  Save A LOT.


Introductory play
-----------------

The first bit at the house is just to get you used to the interface, 
so follow instructions and do your own thing.  So long as you get 
the essential items, the rest is window dressing.  One word, though 
- while training outside, mind you don't kill the nice doggie by mistake, 
he does get in the way.  Once you've had enough of exploring and 
trying things out outside, you will be ready to go to the gypsy.  
You will be asked 7 questions which will determine what you will 
play as.  For instance, if you show too much compassion, you will end up as a 
Bard, with dexterity but very few hit points.  If you go for honour, 
on the other hand, you'll be a lot beefier.  Spirituality, of course, will make 
you a better magician.  Up to you, really, but 
I went for beef - you can't survive long without a decent amount of hit points.
At the end, when you go to the gate, you will 
have to fight a Gazer which drops a lot of cash.  Don't bother to 
pick it up, you lose everything you are carrying when you hit...


Britannia
---------

In the starting bedroom, read all the books (take the one on potions 
with you, if you like, or write the info down), take everything in the chest and 
anything else you want (for paladins, there is a short sword in the corner).  
Then go around the corner and pick up the spell book.  This section is intended 
to get you used to the sort of thing you are likely to encounter in the 
dungeons, so click on the ankhs which will appear to find out what you have to 
do.  In the first instance, after you've picked up the spell book, cast Ignite 
on the torch to get through.  Click on the next ankh and move to the edge to 
jump onto the near ledge (make sure the green cursor is on 
it).  Turn to the rat and cast Stone (make sure you are close 
enough).  Jump, pick up the cash and pull lever.  Jump all the way 
back to the stairs, pick up the coins on the other side and go 
down.  Have a look around and get the red potion.  Go through the 
door and get what's in the chest.  At the next door, cast Gust on 
the vase.  Go in, step on the lift and push the button.  Use the 
valve on your right, jump down, get the cash and push the blue 
button.  Steps come out at the side; climb up to the other side and 
go down the stairs.  In the next room, read the plaque on the wall, staying off 
the tiles.  Take the middle row and cast Douse on each tile till you get to the 
two braziers - cast Douse on them, too, then leave this room.  
Just click on the door to get out.

OK, go to your left and try to avoid fighting altogether - it can be 
done.  Go through the arch and talk to the guy.  Stay well away from 
the teleporter.  Kill him and get his scimitar - you won't get a 
better weapon for a while.  You can now go out and fight/look for useful items, 
if you like, or step onto the teleporter and go to...


The Castle
----------

Talk to the guy with the fetching green frock.  Turn a little to 
your left and open the door, then walk in to Lord British.  Talk to 
him and, of course, agree to get him out of another fine mess.  He 
advises you to go to Dungeon Despise first.  Turn right around and 
talk to the Gargoyle.  Agree to try to find the lens.  Now go up the 
ramp and turn to the right, which leads to where your bedroom is.  
Pick up everything you want and sort out your backpack.  You can 
leave anything you don't need just yet here (though you should sell whatever you 
are not going to need at the shops, since you could do with the cash).  You are 
going to need a lot of room for oodles of items.

Leave and go down the ramp to the first level and talk to the girl.  
Then go up the ramp to Lord British's quarters.  Read the books and 
examine everything, but take nothing.  If touch the mirror in the bedroom, it 
will break - but you will get a revealing movie.  Step on the teleporter, talk 
to the mage and get the potions but leave the spell.  There is no point in 
getting the reagents, either - better to leave them here for when you want to 
make your own potions or, more likely, bind spells.  You should bind as many as 
you can as soon as you are able.

The fountains here, by the way, restore your mana and hit points.  
When you've finished, use the teleporter again to go up.  Leave and 
go down and out of the Throne Room.  Turn to your left and enter the 
dining room.  Here you are encouraged to take food with you.  If you 
go through the secret door behind the woman and into the kitchen 
you'll find a great deal of food and drink - however, you should 
take only a couple of items since it is better to leave it all here and 
replenish your supplies later on, should you need them at all.

Leave the dining room and walk across to the armoury.  Talk to the 
chaps, pick up the short sword and the club from the rack, we are 
going to sell them.  The lift in the corner takes you down to the 
jail, but you needn't go there if you don't want to.  
Find the hidden doors and have a look around.  Leave when you are ready, go 
to the courtyard with the fountain and leave the castle.

Go to your right to find the Mayor's house.  Meet his sick daughter.  In the 
Storeroom, meet Killigan - you'll be coming back here later on.

Near by here is the maze, which contains a lot of good stuff and, in the centre, 
a flaming sword.

Leave the castle grounds and start walking around the town talking 
to everybody.  Speak with the Mayor.  Visit the Cathedral.  Enter 
the Museum, talk to the curator and examine everything.  Find the shops - at the 
smithy, sell your surplus stuff and buy whatever you want.  I shouldn't bother, 
you'll soon find plenty of better things.  If you can afford it, buy a sextant 
at the supplies shop, though it's not essential at the outset.

When you've finished searching and talking (and got a long list of requests), 
leave town by the East gate.  Along here you will meet a lady who will tell you 
about the shrine.  Follow her directions and, on the way, speak to 
the lighthouse keeper.  Then go on to see the shrine.  Get back on 
the road to Despise and look out for assorted nasties.  I'm sure you 
will find the entrance without any trouble, it's next door to the 
big column.


Dungeon Despise
---------------

Cut the web and pull the lever, go to your right, open the chest and 
get the key.  Listen at the door and then open it.  You get to know 
about the Kiran Stones.  Leave and go to the door opposite; to open 
it, cast Ignite on the torch to its left.  Go in, look about you, 
find a couple of potions.  Climb the smallest pillar and then jump 
to the next higher and so on till you land on the tallest.  Get the 
stone key and jump to the pillar on the other side - press the blue 
button before you jump to the ground.  Go through the new door.

Jump across the gap.  Go through the door and read the book.  To 
open one of the doors at the bottom of some steps, click on the 
floating ball above.  Continue to the pool room.  Go to your left 
and get the full bucket.  The fountain will dry up, but you can go 
to the other side of the room and put the filled bucket on the 
dais.  This opens the next door.  

You will have observed that by the dried up fountain there is a 
secret door which cannot be opened from this side.  Go back to the 
gap, jump in, follow through, jump over the crate and get the money 
and the potion.  Continue to the room with the Fountain.  If you 
click on the portrait it changes and you could get an armour - 
don't, it's cursed.  Continue to the next room and pull the lever.  
You come out at the pool, by the dried up fountain.

Continue through the door you opened with the bucket of water 
(though note that in the fountain in the middle of the pool there is 
a potion to be had, you could climb up and get it).

In the next room, move a crooked shield to open a secret door.  
Inside, a Fountain will heal you.  Go back to the main room, past 
the locked door and into a little passage.  A lever will open it.  
Go through and, when you get to the Fountain, don't touch it.  It 
will poison you.  Look about the dead man and get a fine armour and 
a message.  Read it and leave it there.

The next room contains a lot of goodies, including a key in the 
nest.  Also a large rat.  Go on through.  In the Training room, 
collect a lot of arrows - destroy the web to get some leggings.  To 
leave, shoot at the target above the door.

You are at the dinning room.  Pick up the key off the wall by the 
tapestry.  Go up the stairs on your right and stand on the plate.  
The wall opens.  Go through and stand on the other plate.  You get 
teleported elsewhere.  Negotiate the spikes by walking on the holes 
when they are down and stepping into the gaps when they come up.  On 
the other side, pull the lever and enter the next room.  You 
automatically go to the circle and a lot of flames come up.  Cast 
Douse to put them the braziers out and collect the stone.  Leave the 
way you came.  Go to the dinning room and continue through.

No problems here opening the door, just push the blue button and go 
through, cut the webs, fight the spider, move on.  At the next 
Fountain, kill the rat, look around, not forgetting the rat's nest, 
climb onto the platform and collect what you want, read the books, 
etc., and finally pull the lever under the platform.  The fountain 
disappears revealing a secret door.  Open it and push the button to 
open the next door.

Go in and read the book.  Get the broom and place it against the 
railings.  Climb it and jump in to go to the lever and pull it.  Get 
the broom and place it this side of the railings to climb it and get 
out.  Move on and you will find the key inside the little pool in 
front of the door.  

Inside the chapel, read the book on the altar and cast Ignite on the candles on 
the altar (the rainbow beam will restore you).  Pick up the gold key 
(I could not find a use for it here) and go through the door.  As 
soon as you go in you'll hear a cry for help, so quickly pull the 
lever on your left.  The person you have saved will give you another 
stone.  Don't mess about here.  Clicking on the shield or the box 
will get you killed.  Move along the corridor.

Look at the locked door on your left - there is a key on a table but 
you can't get at it.  Enter the door opposite, walk around the pedestal with the 
ball and press the button at the back.  It attracts the key, which you can now 
get and use it to open the last door.  Go to the pedestal and read the book.  
When you've done, go to the back of the room and go through the newly opened 
passage.  Go and press the blue button on the fountain.  This opens up another 
section to the right - there is a rat and a chest.  Kill the chest and open the 
rat, whichever.  Get the arrows by the chest.

Move on and swim under the arch, ignoring the waterfall for now.  As 
you come up a sort of bridge, you will meet and odd guy who is 
anxious to see your insides.  Fight him, but when he reveals he is 
Iolo and asks for quarter, have mercy and don't kill him.  Push past 
him and get the glyph.  Get back in the water and go to the 
waterfall.  If you look down to the right of it you will see a 
lever.  Pull it and the last stone key is revealed.  Get it (and the 
sack), go to the stands and place the correct coloured gems on 
them.  You get the shield.  Easy peasy.  Take the stones with you to 
sell them.

This exercise was just to soften you up for what is to come, you 
know.

You can leave Dungeon Despise, but when you come out you will be met 
by Raven who will ask you to perform yet another task.

At this point you should go back to Britain and get yourself 
sorted out, leaving items you might need in your room, selling the 
rest, talking to people again, etc.  Speaking to Lord British will 
do you no good, he is not about to tell you what to do next.  
Indeed, indeed, it's up to you.

OK, you've done Dungeon Despise (only another 7 to go, ain't you 
lucky), you've got the glyph.  And you don't know what to do with it 
(no rude suggestions, if you please).

However, if you spoke to Sarah just as you came over the bridge 
after leaving Britain by the E gate, and if you went E from here 
(no visible path at first) and went to the shrine, and said "MU", 
just like any well-behaved cow would, you will know what to do 
next.  By the way, don't mistake the "Stonehenges" for the shrines, 
like I did! 

Paws
----

If you've spoken to the carter in town you will know how to get there by the SW 
gate.  Talk to the gypsy.  There will be a little diversion at the first houses.  
Save the boy by placing one of the buckets of water on the fire at the door.  He 
will ask you to rescue his mother.  Turn back and take the path to your left.  
You will walk past a house and onto a cave.  In this cave, fight the goblin, 
look around.  You will see a plaque on the wall, read it.  You will find a 
scroll on the ground, read it but leave it there.

Go back out of the cave and find the house.  Find a hidden lever and pull it.  
The guy in the house will fight you, so you'll have to kill him.  Go around the 
house and through the passage, which shuts behind you.  Don't cross the bridge 
but go to your left, fight the bandits and rescue the woman.  Read the journal 
and look through the telescope.  Now cross the bridge and go up the path.  Fight 
the wolves if you meet them and go left.  You will enter a cave.  Explore around 
here and take what you want and exit to the lake about the waterfall.  Kill the 
two bandits and walk to the waterfall.  Before you jump in to find the 
underwater entrance to the cave, shoot all the fish.  Swim around till you find 
the entrance and dive into it.  You'll get a lot of cash.  Go all the way back 
to the two houses and talk to the boy.

Go on to Paws (mind where you step here, you can easily get poisoned), find 
the Mayor in one of the houses and undertake to save his daughter.  
Follow directions and go SE and, in a grotty house, you will find a 
single goblin, which you must slaughter - a sickly cough will direct 
you upstairs, where you can liberate the girl by fighting a couple 
of nasties.  Collect the war hammer and what-have-you and go back to 
the Mayor to get the Heart of Compassion.  Now you can talk at the 
women by the mill, go towards Britain, kill the goblin and 
retrieve the valve from a chest in the cave and then return to the 
mill and place the valve in the hole, talking to the woman 
afterwards.  This gives you karma.

Then go to the shrine and place the Heart and the glyph on 
the altar, say Mu and everything will be ticketty-boo.  You will be allowed 
to choose how you progress.  Because I was a paladin and I was short 
of it, I chose dexterity, but it's up to you.

Retrieve both the items and go to your room, first, and sort out 
your backpack.  Take the minimum, but you are going to need yellow, 
red and blue potions (lots).  Leave the runes and sigils here as you collect 
them, but take the first one with you because you need it to show to Raven.

You can also try your hand at binding spells in your spellbook, all 
you have to do is use Lord British's teleporter.  All the 
ingredients are there (move the barrels to find more) and one of those 
pentagrams, too.  Please note you can now be trained by the swordsman at the 
Castle, the boyer in town and Peg Leg at the house in Pawns where you saw the 
Mayor.  Best to take the trouble to do that.  And by the way, N of Paws (29 
degrees S 34 degrees W) you can go up a lift and get a levitation spell for 
free, it's on top of the bookcase with the instruments.

When you've done, find the Silver Hart at the docks, jump onto it 
and speak to Raven.  You have, after all, a decent rune.

You will end up in...


Buccaneers' Den
---------------

Talk to Raven before you jump onto the deck; don't talk to the two men you will 
meet.  If they do ask you for money, give it to them.  Take a diversion here and 
go to the shop.  Buy a sextant, if you haven't before - now you 
will be able to see where you are in the main map, plus get a 
bearing.  Buy also the treasure maps he will offer you on different occasions.  
They are no such things, but useful maps of the Den with the entrance to caves.  

Learn to fight bare fisted (left of the Tavern).  Come back here when you have 
cleansed more shrines and made more money - this is the only place where you can 
get to be a Master in this particular skill.

You might like to explore around the island and talk to various people on the 
North side.  Buy the "slave" to save her, then search the house.  Save the guy 
who is being beaten and talk to him.  Another guy will sell you a special dagger 
for half your gold, so if you've only got a small amount (all I had was 2 gold 
coins) buy it by all means.

If you take to the water, don't enter the cave with the ship from the sea, enter 
it by land; and wait until you've been able to visit the Guild.  To the NW you 
will find the Gauntlets of Fury (60 degrees S 4 degrees W) if you fish around in 
a cave, high up, barred with wood strips.

If you have the treasure maps you will see a hole in the ground, actually 
between Samhayne's house and the sea.  This leads to a small cave with a cell 
which you open turning a valve.  

When you've done exploring, get back to the docks and take the ferry (jump into 
the boat) to the other side.  Go through the tavern and up the platform (get on 
it) and go to visit Samhayne. 

Go down to the pub and talk to people.  Buy a bottle of rum.  Go to 
the shop and ask the cartographer how to get to New Magincia.  Talk 
to Raven to get the password (if you don't know it already).

You can now explore the south part of the island; you'll find one of the lenses 
for the lighthouses in a cave roughly 78ø S 9ø E.  Find the lighthouse 
and, before you get into the caves, talk to the ghost.  In exchange 
for the rum he will tell you where the Ghost Ship is to be found.  Don't bother 
with that just now, it needs to be nighttime anyway.  Enter the caves and say 
the password (keelhaul).  Go all the way through to...


Magincia
--------

As you come out of the cave, turn to your right, find the path and 
follow it, cross a "bridge" and to the only house left standing, 
roughly in the centre of the island.  You'll have to fight the 
wolves along the way.  Talk to Katrina.  Go back the way you came - 
you can jump from slab to slab inside the tower to get to a chest.  
But what you are looking for is a fallen column leaning against a 
high rock.  Climb it and cast Ignite on the campfire.  That's sorted 
the vultures out.

The alpha wolf is to be found inside a house in the SW tip of the 
island, roughly 74ø S 23ø E.

Go back to Katrina, get the Crook, follow her instructions and find 
the large slab behind her house.  Stand on it and you will see the 
shrine popping out of the water.  Swim to it and do your stuff.  You 
wind up at...

Ambrosia
--------

Talk to the Wingless leader.  Go down a ramp and talk to a 
sympathetic gargoyle.  Leave and go up a ramp with three stands, 
read all three books then the fourth which will appear, and you get 
a green cube of power.  On your way out you will probably be 
attacked by a winged gargoyle.  Kill it, of course, but try to stay 
out of trouble.  Find the Headquarters.  Talk to the gargoyle and 
kill him.  Collect the crystal by the door.

Leave and go rightish, find the empty holder, place the crystal in 
it and go into the jail.  Talk to the inmate, get out of the way and 
then follow him.  Go through the wall.  Below you'll find a guy in a 
little cave who will sell you potions.  A little further on to your 
left as you come out of the cave, find the dead body, get the boots 
and wear them and read the instructions on the scroll.

Now you've got to fly around finding out where everything is and 
avoiding the gargoyles if you can.  In a house you will find a pylon 
with an indentation under one of those crystals.  If you put the 
green cube of power in the indentation you get an amulet and a door 
is opened elsewhere.

Find the room with the tools where the gargoyle Wislem will give you 
a red cube of power.  Leave and go up to the centre of the dome 
where the statue is hanging.  Find the one pylon with the empty 
indentation and put the red cube in it.  Oops!

Now go carefully down to ground level and talk to Wislem.  This time he gives 
you a crystal and instructions.  Go back to his workshop and put the crystal 
into the empty holder.  You get a yellow cube.  Go to the room below where 
the statue was, save and place the cube in the indentation.  The 
floor opens and you fall down below.

You find yourself in royal company; kill the queen and get two of the large eggs 
which were behind her.  Explore the other 
corridors.  You will find a glass sword.  Take it but don't use it, 
it only works once and then it breaks.  It has a use 
elsewhere.  Go to the teleporter and place an egg on it, remove the 
flying boots, and jump onto it.  You are transported to...


Dungeon Hythloth
----------------

First walk along the water to the end and you will see a coloured 
statue on a coloured stand (hard to tell what colour, it was so 
dark).  Go back a bit and climb up the stairs and into the sewers.  
As you walk about here, you might get held up by cobwebs - cut 
them.  Look out for spiders.  Keep to the right; in the room with 
the steps press the button on the wall, go in, open the chest and 
get the green statue.  When you come out, and bearing in mind that 
lanterns and torches (if you are using them) go out when you go into the water 
with them so you must put them away, go down the stairs and move the valve on 
the wall.  Watch.  Go up the stairs and continue to a large room full of 
sewage.  Now, be very careful here and save before you go in.  
First, swim to the left and climb onto the ledge.  A chest contains 
Swamp Boots which will prevent you being poisoned while walking/swimming 
around.  Before you get back into the mush, see if you can shoot as 
many fish as you can with your bow - they are deadly.  Then take a 
chance and swim to the other side to open another chest, though this 
is not essential - all it contains is another light spell.  Finally, 
get on the platform and you go up automatically.  Up there you will 
see a yellow stand.  Pull the lever on the wall and another door 
will open elsewhere.

Go down via the platform and leg it to the newly opened door.  
Again, keep right and stick to it so that you don't miss anything.  

Basically, here you have to explore each room searching for statues 
and finding out where the different colour stands are.  Placing the 
statues on the correct stands opens new doors.  Look out for levers 
and valves.  In the room in which there are a pair of leggings on a 
grate, when you pick them up the walls begin to close in  - run 
through to the other side to avoid getting squashed.

There is a room full of mud with two ramps, opposite one another, in 
which you have to turn a valve to get the yellow statue in the mud 
(be quick).  If you turn the valves on the other side, you are able to go down 
in the brown waters and enter another corridor, but it won't do you any good 
because the next set of gates is closed as yet.

There is a room with pillars to jump on.  Note their arrangement 
before you start jumping about.  You will observe that the one 
furthest away from you and nearest to the platform with the green 
stand is the one you should be left standing on.  So start jumping 
on the various pillars until you can.  It's not so difficult (in fact, you find 
the solution on a scroll somewhere in the sewers) and, if 
you fall in, you can easily get out and start again.  When you make 
it to the ledge and put the green statue on the stand, another path 
is cleared for you.  Move the valve and the locked door in this room 
will open.  Jump to it from the door which was open, go in, open the 
chest.  Mind the spiders.

You will find a room with one of the wyrmguards who will fight you.  
After you've killed him, swim to the next platform in front of you 
and climb out.  Swim on to the next one and so on until you are in 
front of the column.  If you have one, place a lantern on the floor 
and equip your bow.  Offer yourself as bait by standing very close 
to the water (sorry, sewage) and kill as many fish as you can.  Walk 
about if you need to so that you get at them from all sides of the 
platform.  When you think that you've cleared as many as you can, 
swim around the column - there is an entrance under the sewage into it coming 
from the E.  Dive in and climb up the hole to retrieve the glyph.  Leave 
this room, preferably alive.

By the way, in the various places with water/sewage you will see 
bubbles bursting on the surface.  That means that below there is a 
hole without a valve - if you stick your head over the hole while 
underwater, your air gets replenished.

OK, carry on, continue searching, finding statues and placing them 
in the proper stands.  You'll find the red one in the room next to 
the red stand, where there is a hole in the ground.  Save, jump in 
and go underwater to find the statue - turn the valve so that you 
can swim out of the hole.

When you've placed the red statue you will go through to a section 
which seems to be made of glass and you are under the sea.  The key 
to the locked chest is in a room behind the other chest, which you 
can reach via one of the two doors either side of the chest which 
can be opened.  When you unlock the chest, pull the lever to one 
side of the winch and the door opposite will open.

Now, this is a very tiresome bit.  Go into the room with the 
teleporter; if you were to use it, you would swim down a hole.  To the left, a 
locked gate and one of those air holes.  To the right, you could swim towards a 
blank wall, look up, swim up a hole and find yourself at the Magincia shrine, 
thus completing your task.  However, you can elect to explore the sewage system 
further. 

If so, in the teleporter room, turn the valve to get a key.  Walk along to the 
end of the corridor in this section and, at the blank wall, look to your right 
for a box.  Open it with the key and visit the next section.  Save before you 
actually enter it.

Walk all around looking for valves on the walls, but don't touch 
them yet.  Go back to the entrance.  Now imagine that you have a 
square in front of you, that you are facing N, and that there are 
valves at the S on your left (A), to the W (B), to the N on your 
left (C), to the N on your right (D), to the E (E), to the S on your 
right (F), in the centre to your left (G), in the centre to your 
right (H).  If you turn them in this order:  H, D, F and E, and G, 
C, A and B, all the lights will come one and both the locked doors 
will open.  Two other doors won't open until you place the orange 
and brown statues on the correct stands.

Going through the other door, you'll come to a corridor full of 
water, swim quickly to the other side and, when you come out, equip 
your bow and kill the fish.  Continue and you'll come to a sort of 
bridge.  Save.  Jump down.  I examined this room most carefully, but 
all I could find was a birdbath - touch it and you shrink, so that 
you can go through the circular opening.  In there, turning a valve 
will flood the whole place - get out quickly, swim to the bridge and 
climb out.  Again, kill all the fish.  Swim back to the room with the brown 
stand, looking for a hole in the roof which takes you to a whole new section.  
Here you explore around and find the stand for the purple (or pink) statue 
you were carrying around and find another statue (bluish) by some 
rocks which frame a door.  

In a room with four valves by the door you turn them, and another on 
the wall if you jump on the platforms to the right, to reach another 
door on the other side.  Doors open and you can explore further, 
going into the water and swimming around looking up to find more 
holes into other rooms.

Under an upside down jar there is another statue.  In a room (also 
reached through a hole) with a chest, the last statue hovers under 
the ceiling.  You have to pull down the semitransparent slab on 
which it is standing in order to reach it.

Having gone all around and placed 7 statues on the proper stands, 
number 8, the last one (the orange one hovering under the ceiling) 
caused a slab to move in a room nearby.  Diving in (after killing the fish) and 
turning a valve, all that happened was that the door 
you could also reach via the teleporter opened, which didn't get us 
any further at all.  All that effort for nothing... unless I missed 
something vital, which I doubt.

At any rate, once you are here replenish your air at the hole and swim to the 
end to a blank wall, looking up to find the entrance to a well which will take 
you to New Magincia.  You emerge at the shrine.  Do your stuff with the sigil 
and the glyph then go and find Katrina.  Once you've spoken to her, 
find your way back to the tunnel and to...


Buccaneers' Den
---------------

When you get there, climb out of the caves and, to your right, 
jump down to the boxing ring.  Try your luck there and 
improve your bare-fist fighting skills.  In any case, move on to the 
tavern (people are pleased about your good work) and upstairs and to 
the platform.  Get to Samhayne's house - but as you come into it, 
wet, hungry, exhausted, very, very fed up and wanting to get to bed, 
you suddenly find yourself in jail.  Here, what's up?  And where is 
all my stuff?

Don't worry, there ain't a computer jail that can hold Lu 
Richardson.  I'll get you out.  Click on the pillow and examine the 
walls - you'll see a secret door.  Go through, follow the passage 
without stopping, the walls are illusionary.  Touch the phase spider 
(clicking on it changes reality) and go back to your cell - now you 
can walk through the door and press the button beside it to open 
it.  Open the other cell door by pushing the button.  The normal 
door is locked.  Go back to the spider, touch it again so that 
everything is solid and go out of your cell and to the desk, where 
you can pick up a key.  Go to the other cell to get the potions.  
Move all the barrels to find armour.  Go to the locked door and open 
it.  To cross the last barrier you have to go to the spider again to 
make things unreal, walk through the locked door (the passage is 
blocked in front of you), turn around and press the button to open 
it, go back to the spider to turn everything solid again and then go 
to the blockage.  On your left there is a secret door.  Go through 
and DON'T touch the chest.  

Press the button by the door.  When the statues face towards the 
door, you will be able to open it.  Go through and to your right.  
Press ONLY the red button and you will get an idea of what comes 
next.  Actually, I don't know how we got into this.

OK, leave the room and continue till you get to the room full of 
lava.  Walk along the funny path to the tapestry.  Click on the 
button to the left and a lift should appear.  Get on the lift and 
watch it, on the way a statue will shoot fireballs at you. Get on 
the platform and click whatever buttons you like, it didn't seem to 
make any difference, until they all disappear and steps appear 
behind you.  Climb up and press the button.  Get on the lift and go to the 
tapestry.

Ride it to an statue and six buttons.  Pressing the red button in the middle 
causes the statue to fire a ball.  Press the button to the right to move the 
statue to the right - keep firing as you turn it and it should 
eventually shoot away a switch which frees the teleporter in the 
centre of the room.  When that happens, turn the statue the other 
way, firing away, until it hits a mask and a lift appears.  On the 
way back to the platform with the tapestry, see if you can press a 
purple button on the centre block.

If you continue to the tapestry, press again the button on the left, ride the 
lift to the stairs, press the button, ride the lift and click on the blue button 
on the central block to get to the teleporter.

Oh, great.  All I wanted was to go home and here I am, in another 
dungeon.  Ah, well.  First walk along the platform to the right as 
you face the pedestal.  Click on the glyph you'll see on a pedestal 
and it will fly away.  Press the blue button now revealed.  Jump 
onto the other platform and click on the crystal ball.  You'll see 
what is supposed to happen next.  Save your game.  Note the cube below you on 
your left and press the buttons to bring it a bit towards you and raise 
it.  Now go back to the pedestal where you started, change to run 
and go along the other platform dodging fireballs.  Watch carefully 
as you click on the statue and it will shoot at the cube you 
raised.  If it misses, run back and move the cube so that the statue 
hits it next time (or reload and move the cube more accurately).  When the 
statue hits it, run to the pedestal and get on the lift which will have 
appeared.  

This takes you to the first teleporter.  Step on it and, at the 
other end, jump down and fight the spider bare-handed.  Then go to 
the statue and click on it to get some arrows.  Don't touch the 
mirror; go to the other side and touch the mirror twice and a bow will appear 
(afterwards, this mirror heals you).  Equip the bow, climb on the table and 
shoot at the mask on the block opposite the one with the teleporter.  Stairs 
will appear - climb them, step on the plate on the floor and shoot the mask over 
the teleporter - run quickly to it.  Fine, you are going to need the 
bow and arrows.  Get on the lift and it will take you to the first 
pedestal.  Walk along to the right and shoot at the mask you will 
see on your right.  This extends a platform - run along it and jump 
to get at the valve.  This lowers the level of the lava.

Go to the first pedestal and jump down to click on the crystal ball 
you'll see.  Get the idea?  OK, get on this lift which will take you 
up to the other one.  Ride it to the first teleporter, but this time 
jump down and click on the tip of the pylon sticking out of the 
fire.  This drains the lava momentarily so you can get at the other 
teleporter.

When you get into the room, open the chest and get the potions, then 
press the blue button on the pedestal, equip the bow quickly and 
shoot at each target as it appears, turning fast to face the next 
one.  If you are successful, you'll get a globe.  Step on the 
teleporter and click on the pylon again to lower the level of the 
lava; run to the nearest empty holder and place the globe in it.  
Aha!  A new path is being created.

You know what to do now - keep clicking on pylons and don't get 
caught when the lava raises.  Find other teleporters and collect 
more globes.  You should find one in a chest.  Since I don't know 
which way you will head, I'll just tell you about the rooms you'll 
reach.

In one, you will see two chests and to archer statues.  DON'T touch 
the chests.  Just shoot at a moving mask till you get the globe and 
get out.

In another, you'll find yourself in a small maze.  Keep your eyes 
open for a war hammer, you are going to need it.  Try and remember 
were you are at all times.  You will see a cube with a button.  
Pressing it you will see a mask appearing over a chest.  The idea is 
to rush to the chest and shoot the target before it disappears.  You 
have to do this three times, in different places, to get a globe on 
the cube.  Now you can go and place the last one.

Get to the first pedestal where you landed were you arrived; with 
the last globe placed, you can now walk along the new path and step 
on the teleport.

NOT the best of places to be, but it could be worse.  As soon as you 
can, equip the war hammer and deal with the beast sent to attack 
you, which drops a ruby, thank you so very much.  Save your game.  

Now, I jumped from stone to stone to face the nasty on the other 
side and it turned out that she had company, so I was dispatched 
before I could catch my breath.  Next time, I had a cunning plan.  I 
leapt to the big rock, but instead of jumping on to the land, I shot 
the woman with my little bow.  It worked.  I was able to jump onto 
the land unimpeded and found a lift which took me to a column, where 
I got a glyph I wasn't actually looking for in the first place.  
Heck, I didn't even know where I was.  

I soon found out.  Coming out of the column, I took the lift which 
this time took me to a teleporter.  I used it, got out of the cave 
and there I was, in Moonglow.  I didn't want to come here, and I 
didn't want any trouble with the guy outside (keep insisting you 
don't have his dagger and talk to him - don't fight him).  AND I 
want my stuff back!!!


Moonglow
--------

Well, here we are.  

After talking to Duncan, turn around and read Raven's message by the entrance.  
She is darned-tooting right, I am very cross indeed.  In fact, I'm hopping mad.  
Swim across to the fire.  By it you will find a map of Moonglow and much good 
might it do you.  

Go into town and talk to everyone, only don't believe a word anyone says.  Start 
on the first house on your left - just walk through the door.  This empty house 
belonged to Mariah.  You will notice a door with a magic field across.  There is 
a bed in one the rooms, where you can sleep if you need to.

Leave and go to the next house, again just walking through the door.  The boy 
lives here.

In the next house you will find Batista.  She has the sigil but wants a shield.  
Go back to Mariah's house - the magic field will have gone.  Enter the kitchen 
and look at the floor.  Open the trapdoor and go in.  Another magic field across 
a door.  Facing it, you will notice that, on your right, there is a secret door.  
Move the barrels and go in.  Place a barrel on the plate on the floor.  This 
removes the magic field.  Go back to the other room and find the secret door on 
the other side.  Move the barrels as before and place a barrel on the floor 
plate.  This removes the protection around the shield.  Go and get it and take 
it to Batista.  Insist that she does something for Mariah before you give her 
the shield.  In the end, you get the sigil.  All you need now is the mantra.

Move on to the next house, nothing very interesting.  The next one is a shop and 
you can buy potions or get healed for free.  

At the next door, press the blue button and go in.  Meet Tydus.  Ask him about 
the Lyceum and oracle and he sends you on an errand.  Leave town by the S gate 
and go hard left, without crossing the bridge.  Run to avoid the arrows which 
will be fired at you.  You will find the cave along here.  Enter and be ready to 
fight the two bandits.  When you've killed them, rummage around.  Hit the crate 
to the left, under the one with the jars, and remove the debris to get a nice 
scroll.  Get Duncan's dagger off the floor.  You can use the bed if you are low 
on hit points and you don't have many health potions.

Get a lantern and move along the other corridor, hitting crates as you go and 
looking in.  At the end of the tunnel pull the unlit torch to remove the 
barrier.  Leave the lantern and step out, swim to the boat, climb in, climb up 
through the hole by the crate and kill the nasty.  There is an iron key by the 
chest which will enable you to open it.  In it, magic arms.  Wear them.

Leave the boat, enter the cave again and exit the way you came in.  You can't go 
to your left because the road is blocked, so go to your right, climb above and 
around the cave and find your way back to town.

Go first to the N and give Duncan his dagger - he will train you for nothing.  
Go back to town.

Speak to Tydus and he will send you on another errand.  Leave town by the N gate 
and turn left, then right and along here to the cave.  Have a look around and 
when you get to the Daemon, talk to him.  Trust him and he will leave.  Grab the 
Heartstone.  Inside the mouth of the Watcher there is a key which allows you to 
open a chest.  I couldn't find another key, and the gold one I found later was 
no use.  Stand on the teleporter to get out of the cave.  

You'll meet the boy yet again.  This time take him seriously and go to his 
house.  Fight the bandits and save the father.  By way of thanks, he asks you to 
find his journal.  Great.  Might as well do it now - well, honestly, I'm forever 
going backwards and forwards doing people favours and what do I get?  Zilch!  
Talk about being taken for granted...

Ah, well, it's all part of the game.  

Leave town through the S door, go over the bridge and then hard right to the 
docks.  Enter the lighthouse and have a look around.  Then walk to the docks and 
fight the nasty (please don't hurt the nice doggie), then enter the hut and 
fight an even nastier nasty.  Here you will find the journal.  Take it to the 
sage and he will give you two useful spells.

Make sure it's night time.  If not, sleep on a bed till it is.

Now for Tydus.  Say you will swap the Heartstone for a visit to the Lyceum.  
When the talk is over, press the blue button on the wall and a lift will come 
down.  Get into it and wait till it gets to the top.  Leave it and save.  Jump 
on the boat (don't miss).  You get a grand tour of the town.  You don't need to 
leave the boat at all, only if you wish, until you get to the Lyceum.  Jump in 
and you will be given a cryptic message.  Well, not so cryptic.  Use the 
telescope to see the mantra.  Next, click on the book.  Admit it's all your 
fault.  You get the book.

Leave.  Now it's time to go to the shrine.  Leave town by the S gate, cross the 
bridge and keep to your left.  Avoid the cemetery by walking around it 
(otherwise a couple of skeletons are sure to do you in).  Hard by there is a 
cave.  Go in, ignoring the entrance to the left, to the end of the tunnel.  Get 
what you want and go back to that entrance.  Cut the cobweb and fight the 
goblin.  Have a look around here.  There is a little corridor to your left where 
a mess of garbage contains a dead body and a gold key.  Coming out of this 
chamber you will see another corridor - this leads to the shrine.  Before you go 
on, click on the crystal ball to open a secret door.  Inside, a healing 
fountain, an Invisible potion and an armour in the crates.  Leave the room and 
head for the shrine.  Save before you do (there is a bug here which leaves you 
without the bars at the bottom of the screen).  Then have a go and, when you've 
done, collect the stuff from the altar, as usual.  When you do, you will be 
asked if you want restoration.  Well, you do, really, but you don't know the 
words.

At this point you can go on exploring, if you like, or you can get on with it 
and go to the docks.  There you will find Raven.  Try not to strangle her but be 
understanding.  I think she fancies you.  She will ask you where you want to go.  
Me, I needed a rest and went for Britain.

There is much for you to sort out there, such as selling your surplus, polishing 
gems, binding spells, and so on.  But mostly, you need to talk to Lord British 
and find out how to get to Yew.

So, when you are good and ready, we'll follow his instructions and get through 
the caves and on our way.  You will have many adventures and no doubt you'll die 
several times because you weren't ready for what there was around the corner, 
but let us assume you made it to Yew eventually.

Now, you could be forgiven for wandering about, quite lost, looking for the 
inhabitants of Yew and, indeed, Yew itself.  Well, you see, Yew is mainly built 
on treetops, so you could walk past it and never know.  Particularly if it is 
night time, which it always seems to be in this game.  No matter.

When you find a bridge with a signpost saying Yew, you are nearly there.  Going 
to the pub is a good move, if you can make it there.  Because the serving wench 
will tell you were the Courthouse is.  Of course, I can obviate that by telling 
you to head NE from of town.  

Should you find the Courthouse, just watch Raven being condemned to death.  
Nice.  Leave and you will find a gargoyle.  After much talk, head SW and see if 
you can find a platform which will lift you up and allow you to find the boss 
gargoyle (I forget his name, the one you met at the Castle) up some stairs and 
another lift.  You then explain matters, give the queen egg up and you will be 
told that some of the information you seek is in the Library.  I wish you joy of 
finding it.

When you do, the book you need is right by the globe.  Read it.
OK, head generally NE.  Follow the signposts to Wrong.  At one point (there is a 
green banner on a rock), you have the choice of going to your right up a spiral, 
snowy path.  When you get to the top, a bird will ask you a series of questions.  
The answer to the first is Yes, you are looking for the quill, then agree, and 
the answer to the other three questions is No.  You get the quill.  Go down and 
continue following the signposts till you cross the bridge, then go down the 
steps to the left and talk to the gargoyle, who will tell you about the secret 
entrance to...


Dungeon Wrong
-------------

Jump on the boat and it will take you automatically to the entrance.  Make sure 
you have one of those blue potions handy, dive in and swim till you can get out.  
Press a skull to open the secret door.  Inside, move the book to get yet another 
useless gold key, move the painting with the Ankh and press the blue button.

Save your game before you leave by the main door.  Open it and go left - the 
fountain can heal you.  Carry on up the stairs to the ground floor and kill 
everybody.  You will find a nice longbow in one of the chests and some arrows in 
another.  Open the front door in case you need to come here again.

Don't bother to go on up, there is nothing of interest there.  It would be best, 
just in case, to order your backpack, get rid of anything you don't need and put 
everything you can in it.

Go down.  Before you go past the fountain, save again and use a black potion.  
Walk past the guard to your left, talk to the girl, open the box on the wall and 
pull the lever to free her.  If you go in and press the large button in her cell 
you can go through a secret door and collect a bag from the water, under a dead 
guy.  On leaving this room, let yourself be caught and placed in a cell.  At all 
other times, rush to the guards and kill them quickly before you get sent to 
jail yet again.

When you do, don't worry - you know me and computer game jails.  Move the bench, 
open the secret door and, using your fists, make your way along here.  In a room 
to the right, fight a big spider and collect a key from the nest.  You will be 
teleporting to this room later on, so it's as well to remember its position.  
Continue and you'll end up in another cell, place the dead body on the plate to 
open the door and you'll come to a corridor.  There is a door almost opposite 
slightly to your left.  Go in and get your backpack and a key, leave this room 
and go to your left, use the key on the box on the wall and go down the stairs.

You've got the idea, so I'll leave you to explore looking for levers, secret 
doors, buttons on walls, boxes with levers, etc.  By the way, when you find a 
rack, pull the lever on that to open the way out.  Ignore the wolf and don't 
bother with a key you will see in a flooded room, you can't put it in your 
inventory.  You will come to a mock Raven which turns to a zombie - make sure 
you chop it to pieces.  In this room, a book on the floor will give you the 
order in which you have to push 5 skulls to open the door to the real Raven, 
which you will come to by and by.  When you do, go in, turn the valve on the 
left to turn off the flames, turn the valve on the right and she will come up.  
You have a chat.  Well, yes, we knew we had to get all that, lady.

Carry on here.  Raven's key opens a door; to your right, another door can only 
be opened by pressing the red buttons on a green tapestry.  Don't bother.  Bear 
left and go down the stairs.  At the desk remove the inkpot and press the red 
button.  Go in and carry on.  At a room with three buttons and a chest, press 
the first on the left (blue) to open the door to the dungeon proper.  Press the 
middle one (red) to get out of here but don't press the one on the right (green) 
because you will wind up in jail.

Find the door to the dungeon and go in.  Here, look for switches low down on the 
walls and free prisoners.  You will come to a flooded room with a corridor in 
the middle.  See if you can kill the fish before you run across, because the 
bridge will sink.  In any case, you'll have to dive to a tunnel to the right, 
where a valve will open the other door.  Carry on through and you will come to a 
room with a revolving column.  Leave this for now and go along the other 
corridor.  You will meet Jaana.  After you've spoken to her by choosing the 
second and third lines, throw the lever on the winch on your right and she will 
be caged.  She'll ask you to free her so, if she promises to be nice, do so.  
She attacks you and you have to kill her.  The door will open now, and you can 
get through and get into the column, behind the rocks, to retrieve the glyph.

Now go to the room with the revolving column, look for a switch and a teleporter 
will appear.  Equip your weapon, step on the teleporter and kill the spider at 
the other end.  You will know where you are, so leave Wrong and get back to Yew.  

The shrine is NW of town, so do your bit with the glyph and the quill then go 
back to the Courthouse.  Now that everything is sorted out, you might like to 
take time to go to the mountains to the NE of town and find the ruins of the 
abbey.  Talk to the brother then find the braziers at the back.  Cast Ignite on 
everything in sight and you will be able to get the Candle of Love.

Go back to...


Britain
-------

It's a good thing you have to get back to Britain, since no doubt 
you have much to do in the way of selling/leaving stuff in your 
room/binding spells/sorting out your pack, etc.

You are going to need plenty of health (yellow) and mana (orange) 
potions, and the odd invisibility one - but leave plenty of room in 
your inventory.  If you still have it, take the crystal sword with 
you; it could make all the difference.  If do you have it, then take 
also the magic shield you got earlier on in the first dungeon.

When you have sorted yourself out to your satisfaction, go to the 
Docks and jump into Raven's boat.  You will be asked where you wish 
to go.  I took a small detour to place the lens in the Moonglow 
lighthouse.  This is a good place to buy potions anyway.  Cast a 
"Light" spell before you go to...


Minoc
-----

You will notice your mana points start to drain straightaway; this 
is the effect of the Light spell, which will continue operational 
till you either sleep or run out of mana.  Bearing in mind you 
cannot cast spells here, don't sleep.  Furthermore, once you enter 
the dungeon, neither your potions nor your magic will work.  Since 
you must maintain your Light spell going, top up your hit and mana 
points with potions while above ground.

Head mainly N.  First visit the shop and get a bit of info.  Go on 
N, and to the right of the big house, stand at the window of the 
prison to hear a plea for help.  Bribe the guard by the front door 
and talk to Raxos.  You will have to kill him to get the key to the 
Prison, so get tough.  Free the guy inside and he will give you a 
handy orb.

Outside, talk to the bold guy, paying for the answers to your 
questions.  If you are short of cash, save first and find out what 
answers you'll get, then reload and ask only those relevant to your 
needs.  Remember, in this game you have to "know" things (i.e., they 
must be inscribed in your journal) in order to do something about 
them.

Walk across to where there is a spooky house.  Upstairs, a ghost (be 
aware it is only there at night) asks you to find her doll.  Leave 
the way you came and keep going N.  You will come across the gypsies 
and will witness an ugly scene.  Talk to the Gypsy Leader, who will 
help you if you help him.  No probs.

Talk to Morganna, get all the info and you will find out the 
mantra.  She up and dies on you.  Oh.
 
Carry on talking to people and go through the waterfall to find the 
ghost's doll.  Might as well take it to her (if it's night time, 
which it usually is).  Avoid the cemetery behind her house at all 
costs.  If you enter it, a ghost attaches itself to you and, whilst 
it doesn't harm you, there is no getting rid of it.

Anyway, to save on shoe leather, jump into the water by the 
waterfall and swim under the cave at the other end of the pool, 
looking out for a high ledge where you'll find a special sword.

When you are ready, walk up the hill from the magic shop and kill 
the ghost (if it's night time - he's off duty in daylight hours).  
Carry on up and dispatch the two bandits and the two skeletons.  

By the way, the skeletons you kill will pull themselves together if 
you hang around.  Sometimes, if you take their ribcage into your 
inventory (leaving it elsewhere later) or place it as far away from 
the other bones as you can, they can't do it.  So, either run or, if 
you must hang about, take their ribcages and hope for the best.  
While we are on the subject, don't forget that zombies must be hit 
again once they are felled, till they disintegrate.  Ghosts are 
tougher to "kill"; I found the Gringolet sword quite useful, though mostly I 
tried to avoid them.

Back to business.

Go through the caves.  Fight your way through and, outside, go down 
and enter the mines.  You will see now why you had to cast "Light" 
before you even reached Minoc.  Gee, it's dark in here!  Read the 
book on the floor a little way in.  Follow the railtracks till you 
enter the main cave. 

Either now or later, you might like to use an invisibility potion (though you 
have to drink it outside the cave) and run to your left collecting lumps of 
blackrock.  You need four lumps.

When you are ready, at the entrance turn to the right and climb up some ramps to 
the top of an elevator.  Pick up the oil can and click on the drive mechanism 
(the bits which stick out either end of the hole in the ground).  This 
lubricates the gears.

Go down and to your right and follow the railtracks.  Before you go 
too far in, equip the Gringolet sword, a shield if you have it, and 
carry on.  Speak to the Sword Wraith and get all the info.  Fight 
him and quickly retrieve the key he was carrying.  Go open the chest 
by the elevator and press the blue button.  Jump on the elevator and 
press the second button from the top (blue).

You are now on the second floor down.  It is imperative that you 
find the green pools that restore your health points, otherwise you 
will never make it.

OK, follow the tracks.  When you come to a wagon, push it to get 
through.  Go left and a skull asks you to take him.  Refuse at 
first, then take it.  With your back to the skull pole, go left, 
climb over the rocks and you will find a green pool (fountain); use 
it to heal yourself.  Carry on along here and you will find the next 
key in an open box, at the back of the column.

Go back to the fountain and climb over the rocks, then go back to 
the elevator, do as before and move on to the third floor.  Here, 
follow the tracks and, when you have gone over the chasm and get 
into a chamber turn to your left.  Walk along here and you will see 
a rock almost like a wall, with a green shine behind it.  Jump onto 
a box and then onto the "wall" and in.  You will find, not only a 
fountain, but a helm of radiance in the rubble.  Wear it to see 
better.  Walk around here till you find a tunnel and follow it.

(By the way, blocked tunnels can be opened up by clicking on the dynamite 
barrels in front of them.)

When you reach the end, you will have found the skull's tomb.  Place 
the skull on it and you will get the next key.  By the way, in the 
chamber before the tomb I found Skully's skull.  I took it with me 
just in case.  Back to the elevator, you know what to do.

This is the fourth and last floor.  At the back of the elevator 
there is a tunnel which leads to a chamber with a lot of precious 
stones, if you want them.  From the elevator, follow the tracks 
until you get to the flooded section.

Save here because what is coming next is a bit of a nightmare.  In 
spite of the Helm of Radiance and your Light spell (still going, I 
hope), it's pitch dark and you will find it doesn't help that the 
rocky walls of the mine are invisible, nor that the water itself has 
various levels.  The changes of perspective as you move about will 
confuse you while you are groping in the dark not knowing where to 
go.  Come too near the lava field and your hit points will drain 
away without you knowing why.  The fact that there is a heavy fight 
ahead and that you are unlikely to find a fountain here tends to 
fill you with dread.  Will you be able to complete this section?  
Ah!  Read on...

Get into the water and head straight N.  Come up as soon as possible 
so that you don't drown.  Swim on N till you hit a huge, black, 
round rock (the column itself?).  If you look down, you will see a green 
fountain underwater, not that it will do you much good.  Forget it.

Turn W and swim to the wall.  Find an entrance, dive and swim along 
the tracks till you come up into another room.  Run in and kill or avoid
everybody then head left, change to whatever weapon is best for 
skeletons and, in running mode but not in fighting mode, jump over 
the stones to get to the other side.  Don't bother to fight, just 
run to the door, open it and rush in.  Be prepared to fight a 
skeleton immediately, then place the Gringolet on the plaque (if you 
have the crystal sword, equip it now, together with the magic 
shield; if not, your best weapon) and go through the door.  Here you 
meet the Lich.  Kill it (one hit of the glass sword) and all his minions (with 
another weapon).  I know, easier said than done.

When you are free, click on the ball in the centre of the burning 
circle.  A door opens.  Don't press the button on the wall.  Run 
through and open the wooden chest to get the Blackrock crystal 
ball.  Now, turn right around.  On your left there is a cave were a 
fountain is to be found, and I'll bet you need one badly by now.  
Inside there is a stone guard - I haven't been able to kill one yet, 
so I have to suppose you can't.  However, us cowards can outrun 
anyone, so I just tended to rush around and avoid them.  Try it 
here.  It can be done.

When you've finished, run out of the big door, again avoiding 
fights, and to your left, where you can leap across and get down 
into the water and away from here.  Swim to the black circular rock 
- this time we are going N, so swim around it till you are facing N, 
get to the wall and look for the entrance to the tunnel.  Dive in 
and, again guiding yourself by the railtracks, reach the other side. 
Don't rush out of the water. You are now going to run straight on 
avoiding the stone guard.  Wait till he has his back to you and is 
out of your way.  Go!

You'll find the column and a pool.  Jump in, swim around the column 
till you see an entrance.  Dive, walk up and collect the glyph.  Now 
all you have to do is run past the guard, into the water, swim S and 
find the tunnel through which you entered.  At the other end, find 
the elevator.  By the way, if you've had the odd encounter with 
skeletons and you are low on hit points, the fountains won't heal 
you.  You can only use them once.  Nice touch, that.

(You could have swam to the E, there is another entrance underwater, but I got 
killed so many times trying that I gave it up.  It really wasn't necessary, 
anyway.)

Once on the elevator, press the top button (blue), then the red 
one.  Face the exit and be ready to jump out when you get to the top 
floor - the elevator perversely goes straight down again.  Once on 
the top floor, don't stop to smell the roses but run like hell for 
the exit, avoiding the skeletons if you can.  As soon as you get to 
the entrance you can heal yourself with potions.

Now go to the Gypsy leader and talk to him till he agrees to look at 
the Blackrock crystal ball.  Afterwards, collect the key, go to the 
wagon nearby, open it and get the lens on the bed and the sigil, 
which is in the chest.

Next, head for the shrine and do your stuff.  OK, collect the items 
off the altar and go to the boat, where you join Raven.  She 
suggests you go to Buccaneers' Den - however, you get diverted and 
taken to...

Terfin
------

Jump off the boat and go straight on till you come to a group of 
three statues.  Click on the first one.  If you try to go through 
the gate behind them perhaps you won't be able to.  Leave this corridor and 
come back again - now you can go through.

Nothing very special here.  Just walk along having a look, expecting 
the odd attack and picking up anything you need - you will 
inevitably arrive at the Guardian.  Watch what happens.  The 
Guardian gives you a warning, but he doesn't kill you (even though 
you could do nothing about it) because that would be the end of the 
game.  So you go back to Raven - up to you to tell her Samhayne was 
her father or not.  

Here you get the chance to get back to Britain and get yourself 
sorted.  All you have to do then is get back to the boat for the 
next bit.

Now you sail to Buc's Den, where you buy a map from the 
cartographer and go to Raven's house.  Enter, sit on the chair and watch.  
Afterwards, don the clothes that Raven leaves for you and afterwards visit the 
Thieves' Guild (above the ferry).  You get the chance to buy some interesting 
stuff.  Make sure you get everything you need because after what we are going to 
do, you won't be allowed to buy anything else.

OK, go to the N part of the island and explore around the high ground till you 
find the hidden entrance to the cave (marked on one of the "treasure maps").  If 
you get caught between two sets of gates, press the protruding rock on the side 
of the cave to get through.  Fight the two nasties you'll find at the end of the 
cave by shooting at them and then shoot the target to get across to the snake.  
Click on the base of the stand on which the snake is to free it.  Collect all 
the serpentwyne there is and move the barrels around at the foot of the stairs 
to get other interesting stuff.  You can leave by swimming out or the way you 
came.

[Next time you are in Britain, visit the Cathedral and talk to the Serpent 
Keeper, who will than you for restoring the serpent but will ask you to retrieve 
the funds.  Go to the Mayor's house and the Storeroom.  Talk to Killigan and 
then walk through the tapestry opposite him.  Under a table, find the funds and 
take them back to the Cathedral for some more karma.]
Anyway, you then go to the docks and meet Raven again.  I decided to 
go to...


Trinsic
-------

When you land here on the docks, go straight ahead and up the 
stairs.  Talk to the guard and take heed.  Save.  If you enter the 
Bastion you are a goner - yet you must, and reach a room where a reasonable 
ghost will give you a clue.  The best way to do it is to run all the way there 
and to get out quickly by the nearest door.

Explore the town and talk to various people.  Be careful not to 
fight the people themselves, but look out for goblins.  

This time nobody volunteers info on mantras, sigils or what have 
you.  All you are told is that a chalice is missing.

Make sure, by the way, that you buy plenty of arrows while in town.

There is nothing for it but to investigate the island in search of 
someone more forthcoming.  You have to head to the shrine, to the S, 
and speak to the woman there.  Next, you have to go to the centre of 
the island, where a ruin guarded by a couple of gazers
contains Dupre's.  Kill the nasties, go in, open the coffin, 
get the urn and leg it to the shrine.  Place the ashes on the altar 
and Dupre will tell you what to do.

Depending on how you feel about it, you could now do some 
exploring.  In a sunken ship on the NW coast of the island you will 
find another lighthouse lens.  In a cave on an island reached by a 
bridge (not far from the shrine), you will find the Star of 
Britannia, whatever that is.  In another cave guarded by goblins, 
you will find the Staff of the Dead, in a small pool.  This could be 
quite useful.  Also, not too far from where you got the ashes you 
will find the spy in a tent.  Kill him and read his diary.

At any rate, find your way to the dungeon, guiding yourself by the 
map:  head towards the skull symbol on it, which marks the 
entrance.  You will have to fight hellhounds on the way.  If not 
worse.

As soon as you enter the very first room, you will realize you are 
in for a bad bout of puzzle-solving.  I don't know what's worse, 
fighting against impossible odds or this.

Equip your bow.  Open the wooden door.

(Save every time you've solved a puzzle.  That way you can go in to 
have a look at the next, laugh heartily while you get killed and 
reload to do it properly.)

First room:  press the red button on your right (a ball from the 
right will hit the mask on the left and the field will disappear) 
and quickly shoot the arrow before it shoots you.  Walk against the 
gate and it will open.

Second room:  a couple of annoying Watchers follow your every 
movement, and open gates shut the moment you try to go through 
them.  The answer is:  go to the tapestry, turn right around facing 
the target above the watchers, shoot at it to attract their 
attention and walk around them, right up close, placing them between 
you and the tapestry.  One eye will be looking at you, the other 
away from you.  Now you can rush to the right and get in.

Have a look:  there is an eye in front of you, a mask to your left 
and three shields on your right.  Normally, a fireball is shot at 
you (dodge), followed by a blue ball.  The idea is to attract the ball to the 
mask by placing yourself in front of it and moving at the last moment.  If it 
misses, then it's back to the fireballs and you have to wait for the blue ball.  
Eventually, the blue ball will hit the mask and the wall will open to let you 
through.

This time there are suits of armour to your right and left and a 
statue in front of you.  Click on both of suits and two masks will 
appear, to the left and right of the statue.  Again, you have to 
dodge fireballs but direct blue balls to the masks, mainly dodging 
the former and attracting the latter to the target by offering your 
body as bait.  Do first the mask to the right of the statue and you 
will get some potions (be careful not to touch the green one).  Then 
try the other one and go through to the next puzzle.

Start by shooting the arrow before it shoots you.  Look:  there are 
different coloured statues on all but one plinth.  Press the button 
on your right and you will get a clue - a BLACK statue.  Press the 
button on your left and the statues will start changing colour.  You 
want to turn them all black by clicking on them when they are that 
colour.  When they are all black, a new statue will appear.  Just 
click on it and a chest will materialize in the middle of the room.  
Open it and get the orb.

Get back to the starting room, the one with the tapestry, the mask 
and the two watchers.  Again, with your back to the tapestry, shoot 
at the mask to draw their attention and then walk right up close to 
them; while neither of them is looking at the doors, dash through 
the door which is now to your right.

In the next room, avoid the floor to the left (a plate here would 
fry you) and head straight for the table with all the buttons and 
stand in front of the red one.  Looking at the array, I will name 
them thus:

                                     A

                            B  C          D  E

                            F  G     R    H  I

R stands for red button.  What you do is:  press A, press R.  Wait 
till the ball hits the mask then press F.  When the ball hits that, 
press G.  The rest of the sequence is H, I, B, C, D, E.  At the end, 
a door opens.  Don't rush out.

You must not land on the red portions of the floor.  Start by 
jumping out of the room onto the grey bit.  Look to your right and 
press the blue button to get rid of the field, you never know.  
Carefully walking on the grey floor only, keep an eye on your left.  
When you spot a mask, shoot at it.  You are shown an open way to the 
next room.  Yet, when you carefully approach it, a field shuts it.  
The reason is that the watcher has its beady eye on you.  Follow the 
grey path and look to your left.  You will see a red button on the 
wall.  Watch how the red strip on the floor moves.  You have to 
reach the red button avoiding that strip - it's just a matter of 
jumping at the right moment, and be sure the cursor is on the grey 
path before you do.

Now, when you reach that button, be aware of what it does.  When you 
press it, it turns the eye towards you and away from the open way, 
so that the field disappears.  The trick is to press the button and 
get quickly to the next room before the eye gets back to its 
original position.  Good luck.

In the next room, you will see a lot of paintings and a lot of 
levers.  Start by pushing all the levers back.  Now, the eye here is 
turning slowly and continuously.  If you pull a lever (it turns 
green) and the eye is facing it, it will go back.  Therefore, you 
have to wait till the eye has just turned past any lever and pull 
them all following the eye around so that it is only looking at 
levers laying back; you have to pull them all before the eye gets to 
the first one.  If you are not quick enough, all the levers you've 
pulled so far will go back.  However, after a few tries and a lot of 
cursing, you should complete the circle faster than the watcher and 
pull all the levers green.  This opens another door in the room with 
red/grey floor.

Go back to it (carefully) and enter the new room.  You will see a 
pedestal.  Place the orb on it and stairs will be created.  Go up 
them and look for a blue button on the left.  This calls a lift 
which takes you to a large black statue.  Sheltering to the right of 
it, have a look around.

First, you have to go left and jump to a murderous watcher which 
showers you with fireballs.  Press its red button.  Jump to the red 
"star", walk through it and you will turn red.  Jump back to the 
statue and click on it to turn it red.  Now, dodging fireballs, find 
the blue star; standing by the statue, it is ahead and to the 
right.  Walk into it so that you turn blue and then click on the 
statue to turn it purple.  Next, you have to get to the yellow star 
- which is a bit difficult since there is no obvious way to get to 
it.

Go down some stairs above the statues puzzle and 
over a polar bear rug to get to another button.  When you press that, a new 
lift appears - go to it, travel to the last "star", turn yellow, go 
to the statue, click on it and it will disappear leaving behind a 
teleporter.  Use it.

You will be in front of a glass wall.  Hit it with your weapon and 
you will be asked the mantra, which you now know is SUMM.  The glass 
wall disappears.  Jump from slab to slab to the entrance of a 
cave.   Follow this through and you will have an encounter.  Don't 
give up the lenses.  The chalice is destroyed.  As you leave the 
cave, Dupre will appear and tell you to get another one (do so) and to 
convince the people they should mend their ways.  That's all very 
well, but.

Anyway, come out to the slabs and jump to your right, where you will 
find a very fine sword.  Observe, too, the teleporter.  Go and face 
the guard.  Now, this is a tough one, so I found that the only way 
to kill her was to dodge around the fire till she stepped on it to 
get at me - with the new weapon and her losing hit points because of 
the fire, I found it quite easy to dispatch her.  When she bites the 
dust, the column opens and you can go through to get the glyph.  Use 
the teleporter to get back, drop down to the room with the two 
watchers and leave the dungeon.

Go back to town and to the Bastion.  With the new sword, killing the 
ghosts is dead easy (excuse the pun).  Just go around hitting them 
all even as they speak.  When you have finished them off, go to the 
front door and talk to the guard.  He tells you about someone at the 
Inn.  Go there and talk to the woman.  You find that she has a 
guest.  I think you have to leave by the N door, but anyway near 
here there are two rooms which were previously locked.  Go to the 
one to the left and meet a guy who needs help.  Agree.

Go to the last paladin, on the floor above the smith, and ask for 
his help.  Call him a coward.  Dupre's ghost appears and talks to 
him.  Lucero will finally pull himself together.  Follow his 
instructions and go to the island S of here, which you reach by the 
bridge.  At the house, lend a hand killing spiders and, after a bit, 
it will all be over.  Lucero, though, is in bad shape.  Nothing you 
can do.

Go back to town and to the front door of the Bastion.  Place the cup 
at the foot of the statue and watch.  Go to the guard and he will 
tell you to take the chalice.  Do so, go to the shrine and place the 
chalice and the glyph on the altar.  At the end, go back to the boat 
and Raven.

It would be a good idea to go to Britain because of the lighthouse 
lens.  

Also, if you have three lumps of blackrock and 7000 gold pieces, you can ask the 
smith to make you a blackrock sword after you've cleansed the shrine.  Talking 
to the two fisherman then gives you more karma.

Britain
-------

Make sure you talk to everyone again and you will find that someone has been 
impersonating you.  Go to the crossroads to Despise and the knight will tell you 
where to find the offending party.  Go to him and tell him to mend his ways.  
More karma for you.

OK, after you've done all else you had to (making sure you bind the spell 
Fireball before you leave Britain) and have taken a detour to Buc's 
Den to place the lighthouse lens, talk to Raven and ask to go to 
Valoria.

When you get there, follow the sign and go up to the rock all in 
front of you and then left and you will meet a dying guy who will 
lumber you with a shield.  Continue along here and you will see two 
huge heads.  Click on the yellow eye to open the barrier and walk 
straight on till you get to the sergeant.  Agree to bring a dragon's 
head (are we nuts?).

Leave and head for the ship, get rid of the zombies, get in and 
explain you have to get to Destard.  Raven takes you to Britain 
again.  If there is anything else you need to do, now it's the time 
to do it.  Make sure you have plenty of orange potions, a few 
healing potions for emergencies and, very important, at least two 
invisibility potions plus an infernal armour one... but otherwise 
leave plenty of room in your inventory.

Start by going to Paws and, guiding yourself by the map, follow the 
path which will take you nearest to the skull which marks the 
entrance to the dungeon.  Eventually you will come to some 
hellhounds and you will know you are near the column.  It took me 
HOURS to find the entrance to Destard, and since this is difficult 
to explain, I wish you a lot of luck.

What you do is jump, or climb, from rock to rock heading N till you 
hit the village of Dawn (the other alternative is to go to Yew (using the 
moonstone) and walk SW till you get to Dawn), which is where the blocked 
entrance to Destard is.  In one of the ruined houses a woman will 
talk to you.  You still haven't a clue where the other entrance is 
and I'm willing to bet it's either night or very dark because it's 
raining, and you can't see where you are going.

Climb up to where you see snow and where you'll find an ice hound.  
Hard by, within sight of the column, you will see a kind of square 
of ice with a dead body on one side.  Stand on the square and cast 
Fireball four times - the ice will melt and you will fall into...


Dungeon Destard
---------------

Head N to the Lava Room and stick to your right.  The first thing 
you will find is a white magic field closing off a chamber.  Also, a 
demon will probably materialize and call up a fire hound.  Always 
attend first to the hound and then to the demon, though if you are 
able to attack the demon quickly, he won't have time to call for 
help.  

Next you will come to a room full of rats, kill them all and come up 
right close to the guy to talk to him.  Get all his info and then 
agree to find the key.  It is right behind you, on top of a flat 
rock.  Go back to the man and free him.  

Move on and there should be, on your right, a lava field.  Jump from 
rock to rock, deal with the guard (he might beg you to spare him if you are 
pushy) and go on to get the glyph.  Get back.  Next, you will see some 
interesting light effects on your right.  That's a teleport you will be using 
presently, but first talk to a ghost nearby.  Ask her where the dragon is and, 
when you know all that, get the rest of the info and promise to help.  She 
asks for news of her husband.  Now, with your weapon at the ready, 
go to the teleport and use it.  

Here is where the dungeon proper begins.  Kill the guards and, this 
time, keep to your left.  Be careful that you don't miss any rooms, 
since you can easily walk past them.  Also, examine the walls 
carefully since there are secret rooms all over the place.  As 
always, I will only mention the important points, you do your own 
thing, OK?

As you walk along, past a healing fountain, you'll come to a room 
with a bowl in the middle which contains a gold key.  Be careful how you get it, 
you might prefer to leave it where it is. 

Nothing very exciting, just keep looking around.  It is important, 
though, that when you come eventually to a door in which there is a 
skull in the middle, you look to the right to find Darin's journal.  
Click on the skull to go on through (this doesn't happen right now, 
I just want to you be on the look out).

You should come to a large chamber with a fountain in the middle.  
Take the tunnel to the left.  In the room with the locked chest, 
smash the crates and find the key.  Inside the chest, a red candle.  Take it.  
Go on to speak to the miners, if you like.

The next tunnel leads to the proper entrance of the dungeon - a head 
will ask you for the Word of Power, which you don't know yet.  
Remember where this is because it's the way home.

In a room with two black spiders you will find a piece of the magic 
eggshell.

If a door closes behind you when you enter a room with another door 
opposite, a switch on the wall between the two doors, on the left, 
will open them.  At the mausoleum, you will find the key you need in 
an open crate under the stairs.  Inside that last room, fight the 
nasty and open the coffin to get another eggshell bit.  Not much 
else to do around here, but do look around, you never know what 
you'll find.

When you come to the room with the plates on the floor, don't press 
the red button on the wall.  The doors will close and zombies will appear.  Kill 
them and push the button on top of the stand which will materialize.  This opens 
the doors.

Carry on.  You will presently come to two pillars with a button 
each, either side of a magic field.  Press both buttons so that a 
green dome appears above them then enter the rooms either side and 
press the buttons above the door.  This gets rid of the field.

Enter the "church".  The first door to the left is locked, don't 
worry about in because we'll get in another way.  Go to the altar 
and read the book.  So this is what the red candle is for!

The door behind the altar is locked, but we'll get the key later.  
There is a lever in the corner as you go to the other side of the 
church.  I think it's for stopping the stream of fireballs you start 
off if you press the red button on the wall I asked you not to 
push.  But pull it just in case I'm wrong and it does something 
else.  

OK, through the only open door.  Have a good look around; you will 
find the flask of blood amongst the other ones; take it.  
Particularly, click on the crystal ball - remember what you see.  If 
you have spells which you are anxious to bind, open the chest and 
get what you need.  

Go up the stairs, through the door to the right when you get to the 
top and go open the chest and get what's inside.  Go back to the 
stairs and go down the other way.  You will meet an obnoxious woman 
who will fight you and you will have to kill her.  Have a look 
around here and then click the painting which is askew to get a 
key.  Go through the door which opens and have a field day.  Get the 
red globe.  OK, you can leave.  The locked door is the one which we 
couldn't open from the church.  

Leave the church and, instead of going left, enter the room 
opposite.  This is where you place the red orb, the red candle, the 
red skull and the flask of blood, in the four stands around the 
room.  And the severed head in the middle.  You can place whatever 
you have on you, in any order.

Now take the path you should have taken and look for a red pentagram 
on the wall to your right.  On your left there is a secret door 
which contains the key to open the door behind the altar.  That room 
contains a pentagram for binding spells, if you need to.  There are 
more reagents by the pentagram.  No nightshade anywhere, though.  
Nevertheless, go to that room.  Inside, push the dragon statue and 
you will reveal a door.  Inside that, the severed head.

Continuing along the corridor with the red pentagram on the wall, 
you will eventually come to the room we saw in the crystal ball; you 
will have to dispatch two nasties before you go and click on the red 
panel - the bookcase slides away and you'll see a door.  Inside, a 
chest with another eggshell piece.  There is also a secret door in 
this room.  Carry on searching and, when you leave these quarters, a 
cell on your left, which can be opened with a lever, contains a 
couple of rats and the red skull.  Also yet another golden key.

A corridor leading to stairs somewhere along here takes you to a 
lava room in which you will meet a demon and a hound.  In a book 
near a dead body you will read a single word:  Inopia.  That's the 
Word of Power.  

Go back to the room with the large pentagram, place the four red 
objects on the stands and the severed head in the middle - a 
demon/hound team appear, kill them.  You get a Summon spell.  
Collect the red candle before you leave.

Make your way to the teleporter and leave.

Keep right, now.  Talk to the ghost and she will give you her piece 
of eggshell because you found her husband's journal.  Carry on 
exploring.

You should come presently to an entrance with spikes in front.  Ease 
you way in and jump to a chest.  Kill the nasties and weigh down 
with something (you can retrieve it later) the plate you will see 
near the chest, making sure it is depressed.  Keep jumping along 
here till you see another tunnel.  Save, change to running mode and 
use an invisible potion.  Jump to the tunnel and run to the N, where 
another short tunnel will lead you to the last eggshell bit.  Use 
another invisible potion and rush out.

Now for the Lava Room.  Find the closest place to jump at the round 
platforms with the pedestals.  As you near each one you will change 
colour to give you a clue as to what piece of eggshell to place on 
each pedestal - in any case, if you use the wrong one nothing will 
happen and you will know to try another one.

When all the pedestals have disappeared, go to the place where the 
red field was and enter.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to be in running 
mode.  When you get to the dragon, have a chat with her and, of 
course, refuse to join her.  When the fighting starts, cast Infernal 
Armour, run and jump onto the ledge she is on and bash away, keeping 
your eye on your health.  It's actually quite easy, I thought it 
would be a great deal worse.  OK, get the head and anything else you 
want and you can now visit, if you like, the room which had the 
magic white field across the entrance.  A lot of goodies to be had 
here (the Troll's Chest, for instance, restores your hit points slowly) but 
watch out for hellhounds and mimics.  A Fireball spell works wonders with the 
mimics.

When you've had your fill of Destard, go to the proper entrance to 
the dungeon and speak the Word of Power to get out.  The bad news is 
that you have to find your way home and, yes, it will be dark 
again.  You are on the wrong side of the mountains, too, and you 
don't really want to walk all the way to Yew; you will want to get 
to the other side so that you can walk to Britain through Paws.  
Basically, jump over blocks of rock heading S and you should be able 
to do it.

Valoria
-------

When you get to Britain, do whatever you have to do and then go to 
Raven and ask her to take you to Valoria.  You know how to get to 
the Fortress.  This time you will be allowed through.  Go in, jump 
to left and talk to the knight.  On a table you will see a map of 
Valoria.  Continue to the central part of the Fortress.  Walk 
against the door for it to open.  Talk to the woman and to the guy 
on the bed.  Outside, you can buy some stuff and get trained.  Leave by the left 
door and talk to the other guy in the other room.  Leave the Fortress (I think 
you get to see a video clip now) and turn immediately left.  Where the bow is 
you can shoot at a target for a bridge to appear.  There is a chest behind the 
target you might want to look at.  In fact, it contains Serpentwyne, which 
restores your mana and hit points fully; and you need as many of these as you 
can get.  There are some more scattered on this island and also on Skara Brae 
and elsewhere on the sand.  Nurse the serpentwyne carefully and use it only in 
real emergencies.

When you've done that, come back and jump down; under the bridge 
there is a cave.  To one side, a dead body and a key.  Read his 
journal and take it, if you like [the lady who wanted the serpentwyne by the 
cathedral at Britain will have asked you to look for news of her son.  Going 
back to her with the journal will earn you karma].   

Enter the cave, kill a demon and find the Tome.  Read it and take it back to the 
guy on the bed.  Now speak to the Knight and the Sgt. and persuade them to 
cooperate.  You do so.

Leave the compound and head to the shrine.  Look for the sunken boat 
near here and get the magic bow in a chest.  One word about this bow, 
though - good though it is, you will bleed your hit points away 
while you use it.

Anyway, find the shrine and, a little further on, fight the fire 
hound/demon.  You get the Dagger.  Now go back to the Fortress and 
talk to the sergeant and the knight.  He tells you the mantra of 
honour and also to keep the dagger.  

Go to the shrine and do the usual, then join Raven.  When she asks 
awkward questions, be honest.  She then suggests you do the shrine 
of Spirituality and that you visit LB.  Do so, but he ain't there.  
Talk to the chap in the green number outside the Throne Room and he 
will give you a message.  Read it.  Go to Raven and wind your way 
to... 

Skara Brae  
----------

As you walk along, Shamino speaks to you and tells you to find 
certain objects but, of course, not how, not where.

Well, heave a sigh and get back to Britain.  Go up the stairs in the 
Castle and talk to the lady by the musical instruments.  Go to LB's 
room and play the music she has given you on the piano (place the 
sheet on it and use the piano).  The sandalwood box disappears and 
you get the Ankh.  Collect the lenses, the book of truth and the 
candle of love, if you are not carrying them, and let us see if we 
can find the bell.  

You would find the info about where to collect the goods by entering the Well of 
Souls, but to avoid going backwards and forwards, I'll tell you where to find 
the Bell of Courage (you should already have the book and the candle).

Go to Raven and ask her to take you to Trinsic.  Once here, if it is 
not daytime sleep somewhere until it is.  Then take charge of the 
boat and head for the S.  The coordinates are roughly 74 degrees N 
and 5 degrees E.  You'll know you are there because you will see a 
large statue fallen into the sea.  Before you leap out of the boat, 
make sure you will be able to jump back in.  Weigh anchor near 
protruding ruins you can climb.  First you have to clear the area of 
very nasty crab thingies, then shoot the Avatar-munching fish with a 
bow.  

When the dust has settled, make sure you have a blue potion handy, 
see that your health and mana points are topped up, cast Light, save 
and start swimming around till you see some spiky bits of masonry and spot the 
square hole in the ground.  Dive in and swim through.  Start destroying the 
ghosts.  You can only go right along the corridor.  Ignore the chest on the 
left and leap to the one on the right from the corridor, thus avoiding a trap.  
Climb up, open it and get the key.  Leap out of danger and enter the corridor 
again.  Advance and go left.  Unghost the ghosts and unlock the door.  Step 
daintily in, don't rush.  A bad guy gives you a lot of lip, but take no 
notice of him.  Fry him with plenty of Fireball spells.  I didn't 
even get a scratch.  When he turns into mush you get a little 
picture.  You could levitate across and jump at the last moment to collect the 
blackrock boots, if you wanted.

Open the door and leave - opposite you'll find the bell and a nice 
person who doesn't wish to kill you the moment she sets eyes on 
you.  After you've talked, grab the bell and go back the way you 
came.

Jump into the boat and ask Raven to take you to...

Skara Brae
----------

Shamino talks to you again and tells you what to do next.  Go talk 
to the huge stone head.  Climb onto the giant hand near by and, when you reach 
the palm, you will hear the mantra.

Follow the broken causeway into the sea and swim on till you see a 
hole in the masonry.  Dive and swim through, then go up the stairs.  
Jump into the Well and you will enter the ethereal world.  Go up the 
stairs and, outside, you will meet a lost soul.  Help him with good 
advice.  In real life, no-one ever listens - so make the most of 
it.  Go right around talking to the ghosts and sorting them out.  On a bed in 
one of the houses (upstairs) you will find Elizabeth's babies.  When you have 
helped all the ghosts, go back to where you came in.

Follow the path marked with the pylons and enter the door.  Get to 
the place in which Shamino is and read the book on the altar.  Go 
around casting Ignite on all the braziers till they have a flame.  
Reading the plaques on the columns and above the altar, place the 
correct object in the right place.  Then click on the book, cast 
Ignite on the candle and click on the bell.  Shamino is freed.

What follows next happens more or less by itself.  Great, now we 
need stuff we didn't know we needed before.  Nobody tells us 
anything!  I had to go back for the darned red candle.  Leave and go 
to the boat.  Ask Raven to take you to Britain to collect whatever you need and 
left there.  You can buy the reagents in the magic shop, if you need them, and 
anything else you need.  This is your last chance to get yourself together now, 
so make sure you have the spell Lightning, plenty of orange potions, the odd 
black and blue variety and a few red and yellow.

OK, back to the boat and to...


The Isle of the Avatar
----------------------

You will easily find the pentagram.  Conveniently, there is a skull 
already there.  It's a good thing you've come prepared.  Place 
everything in the centre of the pentagram and Ignite the candle.  
OK, a teleporter will take you into the dungeon.

Go left, into the room, fight the Gazer and click on a switch on the 
wall.  This opens up another corridor (this happens in every section 
of the dungeon).  Leave and go through the other corridor.  Stand on 
the mask to attract the blue balls and move only at the last minute 
so that they hit the mask.  A new teleporter appears - get the white 
ball and teleport.

In the red room, kill the hounds, press the buttons, click on the 
switch, press the buttons again and take the red ball.  Go along the other 
corridor and cast Douse on both braziers then teleport.

In the green room, fight the Gazer and hop along the floor avoiding 
the large square slabs, which are traps.  At the coffin lid, turn right and 
place something heavy on the plate on the floor.  Turn left and climb up.  Leap 
to the ledge on the right and go and click on the Ankh.  Watch.  On 
your way back, leap on the ledge now to your right and click on the 
switch.  Drop down to the coffin lid, now a cupboard, and read the 
book and take the spell (use it only in an emergency, best to bind it).  Go 
through the other corridor, run through the middle of the room, take the 
ball and teleport.

In the blue room, kill all the fish before you go in, swim across 
the room, climb the stairs waiting till the upper ones are in the 
wall, then turn around and climb those.  Click on the switch.  Go to 
the other room and start casting the Fireball spell all around but, 
particularly, at the star-shaped crystal over the window.  Another 
teleporter.  Collect the blue ball and teleport.

Here, you will notice that in the middle of the room there are all 
the elements over a hole, and that you will have to get rid of them 
before you can get through.

First, place the balls on the stand in the order in which you got 
them.  Fine.  Now teleport again and go to the room with the mask, 
climb the new stairs and walk against the plasma on the wall.

Great.  Save immediately.  You are going to have to jump from column 
to column, without falling off, and you will be hassled by vultures 
and those electric dragons which are well-nigh impossible to kill.  
My advice is, don't hang about.  Start off E but veer N at the first 
opportunity.  You will hop all around a tall rock and there you will 
meet a dragon.  Don't bother to fight it, cast Infernal Armour and 
just pelt it with Lightning spells.  When you kill it, one of the 
layers over the hole you want to enter is removed and you are shown 
a teleporter.  Don't bother to look all over for it, it's on the rock 
through which you entered, so turn around and go back the way you 
came and teleport.  You are next teleporting to the green floor, 
looking for plasma on a wall.  Go to it and you will find yourself 
elsewhere.

Go all around here killing those Avatar-eating plants - you should 
find a whopper.  Find also a bunch of chests.  With your weapon 
unequipped, open them from behind and be ready with a Fireball 
spell, because most of them are mimics.  In one of them, though, a 
blackrock armour.  While you are rummaging around, a stone monster will 
appear.  Quite easy to kill with the Lightning Sword.  Nearby, a 
teleporter will appear.  Go for it.

Now you are looking for plasma in the blue floor, and it is in the 
flooded room where all the fish were, on the ground.  When you go 
through it and turn up in the new location, save before you move a 
muscle.  What you have to do here is go through an arch to the N, 
but first you have to leap onto a rock without falling in the water 
because, if you can.  Keep trying for 
the best place to jump.  It's always best to 
place the cursor well away from where you actually want to land, 
when there is a wall to retain you.  If you fall in the water, you will have to 
find a rock you can climb and jump from rock to rock to the archway.  Anyway, 
when you go through the arch, walk around killing nasties till you find one of 
those water monsters with bad breath.  Zap it with the Lighting spell till it 
dies.  It would be nice to kill it with a sword, but it does keep going away 
from you.  Afterwards, a pretty picture of a teleporter.  
Find it and go back to the dungeon.

This time we are going to the red floor and the plasma is on a wall 
previously not there on the corridor which goes to the switch.  This 
time we are in the fire world.  Look about you - you want to make 
your way to the central bit where you can see a fiery aurora.  Cast 
Infernal Armour before you move and walk/jump to that centre bit 
fighting everyone along the way.  When you get there, you will have 
to fight the boss demon; if you attack him quickly enough, he won't 
have time to summon a hound.  When he dies, the teleporter is to be 
found about here somewhere.

This should clear the hole, so teleport to it and drop through.  
From where you start, you have to drop down several times to a bridge, so save 
and experiment - and don't forget, whenever you see fire, cast Infernal 
Armour.  

When you find the bridge and cross it, you'll find Lord Brit and 
Blackthorn.  They fight it out, LB wins and you have to go into the 
column and get the glyph.  When you have it, go and talk to LB.  He 
teleports you to The Isle.  Head S and find a cave, slightly to the 
SW.  Fight your way in and place the Codex on the altar so that it 
lays flat.  The put the red lens on the left stand and the blue on 
the right stand.  Read the Codex.  Leave it here and find Raven, who 
will take you to Britain.

Sort yourself out and find LB.  The guy in green always knows where 
he is.  He sends you to the Void to cleanse the shrine.  Jump on the "stepping 
stones", find the altar, use the glyph and the ankh and there you are.  Get back 
to the Castle.

Go find LB and talk to him.  Now you've got your instructions, you 
will find all your chums in the Castle.  Go around talking to them.  Collect all 
the sigils.  Don't take too much with you.  If you have a reasonable amount of 
spells in your book, all you really need is a lot of orange potions, a black, a 
white and a blue.  You will find plenty of potions where 
you are going and you need space in your backpack.

Go to Raven and ask her to take you to...

Terfin
------

If when you get there, if you were to jump off and go to the door, 
you'd find it locked and the key ain't under the mat.  So don't.  
Talk instead to Raven and she will tell you what to do.

Get off the boat and walk to the left around the island.  Cast 
Infernal Armour just in case.  The entrance to the cave is 88 
degrees S 29 degrees E.

Go in, teleport, follow through - in the next room there is a plate 
on the floor to the right.  Weigh it down with something, making 
sure it is depressed.  Enter through door.  Pause and save.  You 
could try and tackle the gargoyles in the two rooms on the right and 
left, though these don't contain anything very interesting; so you 
could leave them, use an invisibility potion and run through the two 
ranks of gargoyles ahead.  

Go left, stand at doorway and kill the gargoyles as they queue up to 
get at you.  Enter.  A blue button on the floor opens another door.  
The key on the table opens the chest, which contains arrows.  
Leave.  The first door on the left is locked.  Press the switch on 
the wall and go through the other door.  Go in, run along the 
corridor.  Kill the gargoyles.  Go left, kill the gargoyle, take the 
key on the bar.  The other room along here contains food, and the 
pile of barrels hide some potions.

Go to the locked door and open it.  There is a strange room here 
which contains a skeleton, so don't bother.  Instead, run along the 
next corridor and press the red button which will appear on the 
wall.  

Keep left.  Go along a corridor and you will see a groove on the 
ground.  Unequip your weapon and, if you are wearing the blackrock 
chest, remove it.  Run straight on here - the place will flood.  
Look for a valve on the right which will open the door, swim through 
and go up to the surface as soon as possible.  Look down and you 
will see a key and a valve.  Dive, get the key and turn the valve.  
Climb out and leave.  There is a chest between two portcullises - 
you can reach in and open it, but it's hardly worth it.  It contains 
a buckler and a black potion.

OK, leave and go to the next door to the left.  Kill the gargoyle, 
leave the chest (it's a mimic) take the key from the altar to the 
right, open the door and open the chest by the steps.  All the rest 
are mimics.  Leave and go left.  Kill the thief on the right, 
teleport.  There is a healing fountain and three chests which 
contain, left to right, the following spells:  Inferno, Ring of 
Fire, Summon Demon - you can only take one, the other two 
disappear, so decide which you want.  Teleport out.

In front of you, four switches.  Hit the one on the right.  Unlock 
door and go in - go right, this time, killing all the gargoyles.  
You will come to the torture chamber.  Here there is a locked door.  
The two levers on the floor open the cells, but in one of them 
you'll find a skeleton and a chest with some potions and a couple of 
scrolls which don't seem to do much.  You can safely leave the 
levers alone.

Exit and go to the next room to the right, where you will see a 
magic field around the key you need.  If you go on, you will only 
find more gargoyles and nothing much of interest.  It's up to you.  
But if you want to get on, cast Douse on the torch in the room with 
the field and it will disappear.  Grab the key and go through the 
locked door in the torture chamber.

First deal with the hounds and demon, then get the power cube.  
There is a blue button on the side of the throne which you have to 
press.  Carry on, jump down to the pit and up the other side, pull 
the lever you'll find, which opens another door.  Go back to the pit 
and climb out the other side.

From here on, you have to click on all unusual things, such as 
paintings, switches, levers, buttons (you can use Telekinesis if you 
can't reach them) and what have you.  You need to find three more 
power cubes.  

In the room with the blue one, step on the large pentagram and you 
will turn up elsewhere.  Careful here.  Change to running mode, use 
a black potion and run to get the red cube then run to find the 
pentagram and get back.  Use the red cube on the pylon to get out.

In the room with all the statues, go to the door at the back, kill 
guards, press the blue button, kill the skeletons (take their 
ribcages), get the key and pull the lever.  Go through the new door, 
kill the nasty, jump on the barrels (don't miss) to get to the other 
side and turn the valve.  Go back the way you came in.

Outside this room, turn left.  The first room you come to doesn't 
yield much.  If you move along you will see a zombie and a girl who 
proposes a swap.  Go back to the entrance of this section and follow 
the corridor.  If you keep left you will come to a forge in which 
there is a plate armour.  Carry on and, at the portcullis, cast 
Telekinesis on the blue button.  

Go in, nothing much around here except a nutter you will have to 
kill.  Then move the painting on the wall and press the blue 
button.  This opens a locked room and, inside, a chest contains the 
key Ciara wanted.  Take it to her and she will give you the red 
cube.  Use it on the pylon.  Go through.  You will see a locked 
chest, which contains three yellow potions, and the key is in the 
pit.  If you can't be bothered, jump over it.  On the left you will 
see a magic field.  Moving on, you will come a room with lots of 
chairs.  There is a red button on the largest.  Press it and the 
field will disappear.  A wall opens up.

Go to it, enter, pull lever.  In the new room, place all the power 
cubes in the holes of the pylons and a meteorite will float over the 
table.  Move it to the stand and something will happen in the room 
with two statues which you saw in your travels.  Go to it and use 
the teleporter.

Finale
------

Go through the door and place the sigils on the columns - watch.  Go 
to the white cloud in the centre of the room and, when given the 
opportunity, type Sanct Vas Grav In Mani An Corp (do it right).  
Watch what happens next.  When you can move, run to get three pieces 
of the dimensional portal which are scattered about, watching your 
health and dodging the Guardian.  Then go to the centre of the 
circle.  When you place the first piece in the middle, you will see 
your mates replacing the runes in the columns.  When you place the 
second piece, you will see the moons missing each other.  When you 
place the third, you are given the opportunity to type Vas Kal An 
Mani In Corp Hur Tym (again, do it right).  This casts the 
Armageddon spell.

Watch the finale.

                                     *	*	*

These tips, by no means exhaustive, were meant to help you complete 
the game.  There is much more to do and discover which, though not 
at all necessary, it's good fun.  The game was thoroughly 
entertaining, having a good plot and a logical sequence, and was 
just hard enough but not altogether impossible.  The virtual world 
which creates is really amazing.  Pity about the continuous crashes 
and hang ups.  This really shouldn't happen, since it means the 
product is faulty.  Who wants to buy anything faulty?  With any 
other product you would be entitled by law to a replacement.  In 
this industry, you'll be lucky if you get a patch which will 
probably not solve all the bugs.


                                     *	*	*

Additional
----------

If you haven't found it yet, the Saphire Lens is in a crate, 2 degrees N 9 
degrees W.

When you've placed all three lighthouse lenses and you've visited the lighthouse 
at Britain, if it is night a ghost ship will appear at the docks.  Nobody in it, 
though.  Perhaps one is meant to search around Britain for the ghostly crew.  I 
didn't find any of its members.  You will no doubt find a "Ghost's Bracelet" (in 
two different locations, you can only pick it up once), but I didn't find any 
use for it.

 

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