Lands of Lore - The Throne of Chaos

           Solution by Roy Sims, IBM PC version.

The Throne of Chaos is an enormous and elaborate game. This
solution doesn't always include details of when you are attacked
and by whom. There are many wandering monsters in the Lands to
contend with, and it is not always possible to predict when they
will strike.

This is just one possible solution. Some avenues are not explored
and some doors are left unopened. However, you should get to
finish the game and complete the epic quest. Fortunately the game
has an in-built mapping system (the Magic Atlas) so you shouldn't
get easily lost, no matter where you are.

(1) Gladstone Keep

Your first priority is to locate King Richard's Throne room. It is
guarded by two knights. Enter the Throne room and listen to the
conversation. The King will eventually turn to you and ask you to
retrieve the Ruby of Truth from the Southland. He will also give
you the key to the Royal Library. The Royal Chamberlain Geron
Arbroath will tell you to visit him for a Writ before you leave.

Find the Library and locate the Magic Atlas, which will become a
permanent feature once you've taken it. It maps the land you have
explored so far. Walk around the keep, but make sure you visit
Geron's office to get the writ before you go.

Visit Victor and sell him your dagger, then buy a mace. You
shouldn't need to buy any herbs or potions from Nathaniel. Now
leave the keep and journey into the Northland.

(2) The Northland forest

There are only two important locations in the Northland Forest,
but you should explore first. You will briefly encounter Scotia in
the forest, and a thug. Bluff your way out of the situation and he
will only take 1 crown and leave you alone. If the bluff fails,
you will have to fight him. The first important location in this
forest is the Thug's hideout. You will come across a cave, guarded
by a few thugs. Sneak past and you will find yourself inside the
cave. If you fail to sneak past without being seen, take the thugs
on one by one in the forest then enter the cave.

(3) The Thug's hideout

Pull the lever to open up some more tunnels. Nearby is a lantern,
which will become a permanent feature once you have picked it up.
You will also come across two circular pressure plates on the
floor. One has a small stone on it. Drop two stones (you should
have picked these up from the Southland and the Northland forests)
onto the second plate, then pick up the stone from the first to
reveal a secret passage. Nearby is a small wall button. Press the
button to reveal a niche. In the niche is the Thug's key. Take it.
Now go down the new corridor. Another pressure plate seems to open
a corridor ahead, but you don't have enough stones to weigh it
down! Fortunately, you don't have to. At the end of this short
corridor is a small wall button. Press it once, then turn around
to face the opposite wall. A new button has appeared. Press this
once.  Now turn left and press the wall button that has just
appeared there. The corridor will now open. Walk up to the chest
and unlock it with the Thug's key. Take the lockpicks, the Bezel
Cup, the Salve (red potion) and 10 crowns. You can now leave. Take
the small rocks with you as they may be of use later on.

(You will have to fight two or three thugs in these caves at some
point if you haven't already dealt with them. You should be able
to handle them without any real worries)

(4) The Northland forest (again)

Back in the forest, it is now time to visit the Marina and book
passage across the waters to the Southland. Enter the Marina and
you will eventually have to give the Writ to the woman. She will
keep it, but don't worry!

You will now be on a boat crossing the rough seas between the
Northland and the Southland.

(5) The Southland forest

Your first priority is to find Timothy (mentioned by Geron back in
Gladstone Keep). He is to be found in the Grey Eagle Inn. Talk to
the blond man at the bar. Timothy will agree to join you. Before
you leave again, try entering the door on the right. A man will
open the door and give you a Magnet Stone. This will become a
permanent feature once you have left the inn (it is a compass).

Orcs are roaming the Southland forest, so beware! There are also a
large species of lizard close by. When you fight them they might
steal items from you (like your current weapon!) so be careful.
There are two of these giant lizards quite close to each other. By
now you should have come across a number of Orcs wandering through
the forest. They must be fought, as you need to get through the
forest and reach Roland's Manor so that you can take the Ruby of
Truth. On defeating one of the Orcs, they should drop another
mace.

Buy a Buckler (shield) and a pair of leather boots from Buck's
Skins to increase your protection score. Battling your way through
the Orcs you should eventually reach the manor.

(6) Roland's Manor

This is a very small manor. Orcs reside inside so beware. Kill
them off one by one. One room near to the entrance has a burnt
scroll in the fireplace which can be partially read. In another
room is a wall button which reveals a niche. In the niche are a
couple of oil flasks and an Aloe leaf.

In one room you will find a large vicious looking Orc. Try to
bluff him when he asks who you are. If you fail then you must
fight and kill him. Take the Axe 'Dominance' and the silver coins
he leaves behind. In this room is Roland's secret room. Timothy
will tell you where it is. Press a stone to open the wall. Walk
through and you will come across Roland, who is dying from his
wounds. He will warn you of the Dark Army and tell you that they
have stolen the Ruby of Truth!

Once Roland has died, approach the chest and use Roland's key
(which was lying nearby) to open it. Take 400 coins and a sabre
then leave the manor.

(7) Return to the King

Travel back through the Southland Forest to the Marina. Pay for
the journey back to the Northland (100 coins each) and you will
board the boat once again.

Once in the Northland Forest head straight back to the Keep, then
enter the Throne room just in time to see Scotia standing over the
body of King Richard! Dawn uses her magic to repel the old hag,
but not before the King is poisoned! The members of the King's
council use all their magic to form a protective shield to prevent
the poison's progress, but a cure must be found. Dawn commands you
to find the Draracle, who is rumoured to know of such things.
Timothy stays in the Keep but the Thomgog Baccata is sent to be
your guide.

TIP: Save before returning to the Throne room, then take all of
Timothy's possession before you go in so that you can use the best
of the armour and weapons.

(8) Draracle Caves

Baccata will tell you where to locate the Draracle Caves'
entrance.  Once there he mutters a spell and the entrance is
revealed. Enter the caves.

(i) Level 1

In the caves you will soon come across a horned head on a wall.
Pressing it each time opens and closes a secret wall nearby. Down
this corridor are many horrible Rat men who can poison you with
their slashing claws!

TIP: Poisoned characters can be dealt with in two ways. Firstly,
let them fall unconscious and then revive them to get rid of the
poison. Secondly, if you can't afford to let them fall
unconscious, use Ginseng to cure them. There is no point in
healing them if they are still poisoned. They should be cured
first.

Once you have killed off the present Rat men, you will soon come
into a small room which has three wall buttons (red, green and
blue) in a SW corner. You cannot cross the room due to two
diagonally opposite pits. To close the pits is simple. Press the
blue button once, then red button once, then the green button
once!  However, as soon as you have left this room all four pits
will open up, so a return journey is not possible.

Next is a heavy metal door which only opens when someone stands on
the floor pressure plate, or leaves an object like a rock on it.
Behind the door are a group of tough Bandits. Kill these off as
quickly as possible. Once dead, they will leave behind a useful
helmet, coins, a staff and a leather jerkin. Inside you will find
more coins, Ginseng, an oil flask and some lockpicks.

Ensure that your party is fully healed before you set off again.
The next corridor has another pressure plate which sets off a
stream of harmful missiles into your party as you dash E to reach
the end as quickly as possible. A simple way of defeating this
kind of pressure plate is to drop a small rock on it which
activates it once and once only. You can then step on it without
fear of activating it again. As soon as you are past the face in
the wall, heal anyone who needs it.

Beyond are more poisonous Rat men. Kill these off and pick up the
Emerald eye when they drop it, then have a look around. You won't
find anything, except for a crumbly looking wall. Nothing you
currently possess will break through it so leave it alone for now.

There's not much else you can do now, so head back to the pit room
that you deactivated earlier with the wall buttons. Now, step
forward and drop into the nearest pit to reach a small area of
level 2.


(ii) Level 2

As soon as you have landed, attack and kill the large lizard. In
one corner you will find a sledge (hammer). Take this. You will
also find two hidden wall buttons. One reveals an exit down and
the other a ladder going up. Go down first and enter the pod room.
Open each sac in turn if you like, but the only important one is
the bulging one on the far right.

Opening this one will release Lora.  She will be grateful for your
help. Now return and heal everyone before going up the new ladder,
back to level 1.

Tip: Lora's speciality is as a Rogue. She will spot unusual things
that you might have missed. She is also good at disarming trapped
chest locks (select the chest three or four times and she will
find any traps and disarm them). She is also quicker at picking
locks than anyone else. She must be delivered safely to the
Draracle.

(iii) Level 1

The ladder leads you up a secret trapdoor and back to a familiar
crossroads section. Head back to the pit room. Press the buttons
again to turn off the pits, then head back up the dangerous
corridor into the room with the crumbling wall. Use the sledge
(hammer) to break through the wall. There are more Rat men down
here and some more Ginseng and an oil flask.

Wandering round you won't come across much else of interest,
except another crumbling wall, so use the sledge hammer again to
break it down. The next corridor ends abruptly, so find the wall
button and press it. Now go a little further until you find a pit.
Down you go to level 2.

(iv) Level 2

You will encounter club bearing cave dwellers very early on, so
prepare for a fight. Keep an eye on where you're going, because an
invisible 'spinner' will turn you round a few times. Fortunately,
this is nothing more than a minor inconvenience thanks to the
Magnet Stone and the auto-mapping features.

If you do some exploring you might come across a door and a wall
button. Open the door by pressing the button. You will be faced by
a dead end, adorned with what looks like the face of a seahorse.
The eye looks like a socket for something. Whilst the Emerald eye
dropped by the Rat men will open this, we're going to do the other
wall instead. To open the N wall (which also has a Seahorse face)
you need to use a Sapphire eye, which can be found in a chest
(with an oil flask for the lantern and some throwing stars) in the
area before you reach the door with the button.

Once the N wall has been opened, go in. In here is a chest that
contains a salve potion, a treant stick and possibly some coins.
In the NE corner of the area is an east facing secret wall. Walk
through it. Ignore the nearby down exit for now. Follow the
corridor. Beware that there are many dangerous cave dwellers in
here! At the end is a wall face by a chest. The chest is trapped.
Inside is an Aloe leaf, a mace 'bouncer', a Freeze spell scroll,
and a silver goblet. At the other end of the corridor is a horned
face, and around the corner is a button beyond a pit. Throw a
small rock at the switch to turn off the pit. The niche contains a
'worn' key which you should take.

Tip: Stand by the horned face and when a cave dweller turns up
pull the horns to launch a fireball from the face at the other
end. It will hit the cave dweller in the back. Pull the horns
twice to fire another etc.

Work your way back to the new down exit where you found the secret
wall. Now go down to a small area of level 3.

(v) Level 3

There is a keyhole nearby. Leave it alone for now. A bag of coins
is lying around so pick them up. Giant lizards roam here, and they
fire some sort of web that can temporarily disable your party. A
spinner resides near the end of a corridor. A secret button can be
found on the N wall (Lora may well spot it for you). Press the
button to reveal a niche. Inside is a Freeze scroll (which you
should already have picked up and used. If not, now is your
chance!)

Once you've explored this small area of level 3, use the 'worn'
key in the keyhole. A new corridor will open. Once you've gone
through here, there's no going back as the wall will close up
behind you!

Tip: Don't bother trying to go back and opening the E seahorse
wall with the Emerald eye, as it won't be there any more. You
cannot ever do that area if you wish to finish the game.

The pit in front of you is in fact an illusion. Step onto it and
move out. This area is crawling (?) with flying spiders! A nearby
chest contains (amongst other things) some handy scale mail
(armour).

Wade through the flying spiders and pick up an iron key that is
just lying around. (You will keep this key for a l-o-n-g time
before it gets used, although it could be wasted on opening a
chest). A wall button reveals a new area to explore. A secret wall
is nearby. Behind it is an axe. Two more of those large web firing
lizards lurk in the dark here.

A sabre 'cutter' has been carelessly left lying on the ground.
Lora should make good (temporary) use of it, as it will boost her
protection.

You will come across a red keyhole. The corridor is full of flying
spiders, but at the end is a chest that contains the necessary red
key. Use the key in the lock and another new area will open up.
Around the corner is a floor pressure plate which reveals a niche
at the end when it ISN'T stepped on. Place a weathered dagger in
the empty niche, then take out a 'back biter' dagger. This only
works once.

You now have the chance to go down to the fourth level of the
Draracle caves.

(vi) Level 4

Down here are large green snail type creatures that spit acid. The
acid can eat through and destroy some or all of your armour in an
instant! (include leather jerkins, scale mail etc). Kill it as
quickly as possible. Ensure everyone is fully healed before you
move off, as this entire area can be a lethal death trap with
fireballs flying down corridors! Explore the area but do it
carefully and be prepared to dash for cover if you see a fireball
hurtling towards you!

Tip: There are at least four fireball spitting wall faces that are
activated by normal pressure floor plates. Simply drop a small
rock on them to activate them once, then you can step on and off
them without fear of getting frazzled again. There are also a
couple that are triggered by different floor pressure switches
that cannot be seen or tampered with in any way.

A loose stone at the end of a nearby corridor will open up a new
region. Dash out of the way as you will have triggered off a
fireball! Run up this corridor and come face to face with the wall
face and a chest. The chest is trapped (click on it three or four
times and Lora will find and disarm it). Open it as usual with the
lockpicks. Take the Salve and the Bezel ring.

Some crumbly walls can be knocked down again with the sledge
(hammer). They connect other corridors together. One of the
crumbly walls leads to another floor pressure plate which must be
tampered with to make safe. Another nearby plate does the same
thing. There is an exit to level 3 here, but don't use it yet.

An alcove in a corridor has a secret button which opens a niche
containing coins. Nearby you will find a corridor with a face at
the end, which will launch fireballs when you tread on a specific
area. Use this to your advantage. You must go down a corridor off
this corridor and it leads to a whole swarm of flying spiders.
Fight them if you can, but at times you may have to lead them back
down the other corridor and get the fireball launcher to hit them
for you.

This area full of flying spiders eventually leads to a chest,
which doesn't contain anything important or out of the ordinary.

There are now two stairs revealed on this level. One of them leads
to a short 'landing' before leading to a cave exit down. This
leads to the Draracle himself!

Tip: Save before you go in. Take all of Lora's items and make sure
you have got the silver goblet!

Go into the cave and you will be told to go through the side door
and place an offering. Go through the door (by clicking on it in
the picture) then place the silver goblet in the golden box. The
box will shine and the doors will close. Now EXIT and you will go
back to the Draracle. You will talk to him about the elixir to
cure King Richard. He will tell you of four ingredients and will
also give you a riddle scroll with them written down in the form
of a riddle! Lora will then stay behind and you will find yourself
transported to a small area with a door before you that cannot be
opened. Go up the exit next to you and you will find yourself in a
long corridor off the main map area of the Draracle Caves. Each
time you come to a new exit you are getting closer to the first
level. Eventually you will reach level one.

(vii) Level One

A horned face at the end of a long corridor will reconnect with
level one, except that you are now next to the dangerous corridor
but the S area (where you smashed in the first crumbly wall) is
now inaccessible.

Come back through level one, killing any Rat men who are wandering
about. Leave the caves a.s.a.p .....

@~To be continued next issue.