Lands of Lore:The Throne of Chaos Virgin/Westwood Associates Part 2 of a solution by Roy Sims, IBM PC version. @~Continued from last issue. (9) Northland Forests (again) You will immediately fight with a group of Orcs. Once killed they leave behind maces and a money purse, which you recognise as Timothy's! Just around the corner you will find Timothy injured (arrows stuck in him) and dying. He will inform you that Gladstone Keep has fallen to the enemy! King Richard's body has been stolen by Scotia and the Dark Army. Dawn's magic shroud still protects him though. Timothy will tell you to find the Council. Only their four keys can open the shroud and allow you to administer the elixir (when you've got the four ingredients!). Baccata will recommend crossing Lake Dread to find Dawn in Opinwood. Go to Lake Dread. You will hear 'Pssst' a couple of times as you approach. You will find Victor hiding in the bushes. He will tell you that Dawn has crossed the lake and that the boat she used has just returned. He will give you a long sword and ask that you seek him out in Yvel City in a few days time. You will be ferried across the lake by a man. As you reach the shore he tells you that Dawn met 'some chap in a wagon'. (10) Opinwood There are more Orcs in this wood, as well as some strong devil like creatures who are armed with what look like small crossbows. One of these beasts might drop a Halberd weapon, which is well worth using! For a start, it adds +40 to your Might and it can deliver very powerful blows against your enemies! There are a number of locked chests in the wood (in the form of locked tree stumps). Many of them are trapped. Inside one of them you will find Bracers (armour), a salve (potion), a sabre and another Bezel cup. Tip: You should explore the entire area and locate the entrances to the swamp and the Urbish mines. There are quite a few secret passages in the wood, many quite close to each other. During exploration, you should come across an old traveller. Give him 5 coins and then click on him. He will tell you not to touch him. Now take the riddle scroll and show it to him. He will solve one of the riddles for you (Swamp water is magical) and this becomes inscribed underneath the relevant riddle on the scroll for reference. The traveller will then disappear. You should also come across an abandoned Sword Flayer, which can be useful. Sooner or later you will discover Droek's Wagon. He refuses to say where Dawn is, and he refuses to believe who you are unless you can prove it! Another chest in the wood contains a Kane leather jerkin (slightly better than leather jerkins), and a Lightning spell scroll which should be added to the spell book immediately. You need someone (Baccata probably) to be a fourth level Mage before this spell can be cast. Once you have explored all of the wood, it is time to go into the Swamp... (11) Gorkha Swamp Early on you will be told about the plethora of sink holes (equivalent to pits except that if you step in a sink hole you drown immediately and the quest will be over!). You will also be warned off areas containing swamp gas. I believe that characters can become poisoned if they stand still too long in a swamp gas area. You will soon come across a Gorkha, armed with a short trident. Talk to it and you will become allies. Within the swamp are a number of locations worth visiting. A Witch Doctor will identify any item or solve a riddle on the riddle scroll for you for 100 coins, (Honey), whilst Scomish is a trader who will buy and sell things. He may not have anything you want to buy, but you can sell off lots of surplus items to him. The Blacksmith will sell weapons - the best of which is a Trident. Tip: To cross over sink holes you must cast a Freeze spell. The strength of the spell will affect how long it remains safe to step onto a frozen sink hole. Note that if the spell wears off whilst you are standing on a sink hole, you won't sink but you will if you step onto another one! There are a couple of frog faces in the walls of the swamp. If you place a small rock in their mouths, they will close. Press the button on their nose and the mouth opens to reveal a bag of coins! (This might only work once on each face). Visit the Gorkha leader (you have to un-equip all of your weapons first). He has the Ruby of Truth, stolen from the Orcs! He will ask you to trade, but whatever you try and give him will be of no interest to him. He will then give you a quest to retrieve their 'beloved brass helmet' from the 'powerful living sticks'. In return he will give you the Ruby of Truth. Explore the entire swamp area and kill all of the stick creatures you encounter. There are a few trapped chests to be opened, although they contain nothing remarkable ('assassin' dagger, oil flasks, Duble ring, Salve, Axe 'slitter' etc.). You will also find Glint Mail (slightly better than Scale Mail) and a staff 'beater' just lying around. Eventually you will have explored the entire area and found no sign of the mask. Use this opportunity to leave the swamp via the new SE exit and enter Upper Opinwood... (12) Upper Opinwood Armed skeletons roam this wood. One may drop a Great axe once defeated. Later on, another will drop a 'worn' key. Large Hornets also fly around in large numbers, and they have quite a sting in their tails (though they don't seem to be poisonous fortunately). A chest in the wood contains Dwarvish Chain Mail, coins and a Valkyrie crossbow. A normal bird's nest might contain a coin. At some point you will encounter a black raven which will transform into the hag, Scotia! She will warn you from proceeding, then she will create a barrier (red gate) to prevent you from reaching Yvel Woods (and presumably, Yvel City where Victor probably is). Tip: There are a few Hornets nests to be found in the wood, and the Hornets seem to emerge from them. Use the empty flask that you have been carrying with you for ages and you will get some honey. You now have the first of the ingredients you need for the elixir! Another chest contains an Ebony staff (which can't be equipped as a weapon), a green skull, some coins and a green Emerald Blade. The skull casts a spell of green mist when used in a weapon hand, if the user is a good enough Mage. Yet another chest contains another Bezel cup (your third), some coins and a Jade necklace. When worn, this necklace will improve the wearer's Rogue ability by +1. Again you will eventually have explored the entire region of the Upper Opinwood, except for beyond the barrier. Now you should return to the Gorkha swamp. (13) Gorkha swamp (again) The stick creature carrying the brass helmet should have come out of hiding by now. Explore the swamp again (try the area with many pits, near the Blacksmith). When you come across the last remaining stick creature, kill it and take the Ceremonial Mask that it drops. Return to the Gorkha leader and give him the mask. He will give you the Ruby of Truth (in the form of a necklace) and a bonus Trident weapon. (Being the hero, you could go back and give the riddle scroll to the Witch Doctor. He will identify all 4 required ingredients and only charge 50 instead of 100 coins). Now you should return to Droek's Wagon in Opinwood. (14) Opinwood (again) Go back to the wagon and seeing the Ruby of Truth, Droek will reveal that Dawn is in the back of the wagon. Speak to her and she will eventually give you the first of the four required keys that will remove the King's protective shroud and allow you to administer the elixir when you have it. The key is not a normal key but is shaped like a small pyramid. She will also give you a couple of empty flasks for the rest of the ingredients to be stored in. She will then begin to prepare a spell. You should go off and find the rest of the ingredients whilst she is doing this. Tip: So far, you have honey, and you know that swamp water is the second ingredient. Pop back into the swamp if you like and fill up one of the flasks from one of the sink holes. (15) Urbish Mines Inside a cauldron is a swarm. Once you open the only door, a giant slug (a Lahrkon) wriggles out! This beast is VERY hard to kill. The best strategy is to drop most (but not all) of your best weapons on the floor in front of you, by the door. Open the door. When the best comes near pick up the weapons and start throwing, keeping a steady stream of flying projectiles. Hitting it normally seems to do no damage at all. This will be a long fight that may take a few minutes to survive. Thanks to the narrow corridor either side, you can't move around and hit the beast. If you have to, pick up a few weapons and retreat, then cure your wounds and return to the fight. Once the Lahrkon is dead, proceed down the steps and into the Urbish Mining Corporation offices. This is a large area with many doors. Behind most doors you will find a small office with desks and filing cabinets. Some contain items that may or may not be of use to you. Also in here are some flying crab like creatures. They aren't very hard to defeat though and prove to only be a minor (pun definitely intended!) irritation. Amongst the offices you should locate a Fireball spell scroll. One of the doors leads to a room with another door that won't open. Simply close the first door behind you, before opening the other! Inside the chest is a Mace 'bouncer' and a silver key. A door with a lock can be picked. Inside is a machine that is missing a spare part, has a stuck lever and needs some appropriate fuel. This will be dealt with later. Another office has a wall switch that opens a corridor leading to a mining clerk. Speak to him, then take the pick and the Great Helm he has. A nearby filing cabinet contains some coins. When you return later the clerk will have left. Tip: The mines below are very big and you will be down there for quite some time. Take all the oil flasks you can from the offices here. You will find an entrance down into the first level of the Urbish Mines. Go down. (i) Mines level 1 There are two types of creature found in this level. A bouncing beast with big teeth known as an Iron Grazer (it can destroy your armour if you aren't careful!) and lots of little men with bad hair cuts who giggle a lot! Explore the level. You will find a note from a man named Geof mentioning to his friend Orin that the rocks are alive! You won't find much else of interest here, so return to where you came in and open the nearby door lock with the silver key. You will probably encounter another bouncing beast down the corridor behind the door. You will eventually arrive at a dead end. Nearby are two wheels set into opposite walls (N and S). A wall button is just around the corner near the dead end. There are four possible combinations for the wheels and each one produces a different result in the dead end, once the wheels have been set in position and the wall button has been pressed. No matter what the result, the button also toggles a pit on/off. You don't want to drop down this pit yet, so avoid it. Anyway, each wheel has a yellow mark which can be in one of two positions (top or bottom). They both start as being in the bottom position. S wheel pos N wheel pos Result (button pressed) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Top Bottom Teleporter back to Urb. Mine. Co. level. Top Top Bouncing beast (Iron Grazer) Bottom Top Teleporter to secret room, level 2 of Mines. Set the wheels to the last position, so that a large round teleporter appears in the dead end when the button is pressed. Step into the teleporter and you will be turned around very quickly, then teleported into what looks like a solitary room on level 2. (ii) Mines level 2 A quick glance at the map will show 4 secret walls all around you. Each one leads to a very short corridor. They each have a wall button at each end, except for the W one which has a lock in the middle. There is also some writing on the walls. East _e__ __g__ __t__C North L__t _i__t _e__e_ South __f_ R__h_ r__n__ As you can see, they spell out 'Left Right retneC'. The last word is obviously Center, but reversed. To use this clue, go to the N side and press the right button first. A room appears. Inside are some tough armoured snakes/worms. In the corner is a trapped chest that can be easily picked. It contains a Lightning spell scroll and an oil flask. Once you've done this small room, go and press the left wall button to open up the left hand side. You will quickly find a chest and some large floating electrified Jelly fish! Inside the chest is an oil flask, some Ginseng, an empty flask (important for storing ingredients later) and some Bracers (forearm armour). Kill the Jelly fish quickly. You will come across a round hole in a wall, opposite three wheels in a dead end. The clue deciphered earlier was referring to these wheels. Turn the left, then the right, then the center wheel to open a new corridor. If you don't, you will discover what the little round hole is for! (It fires at you and you will probably die!) Follow this corridor. You will have to kill many more Jelly fish as they originate from the room with the door in the corner. Once the room is cleared, open the door and go inside. There is a wall button by the door as you go in. Press this button and the door will close! (The problem is opening the E door then getting out again through the W door afterwards). This is a long corridor with doors at each end (E and W). You came in through the W door. Both doors are now closed. In the middle of the corridor is a round floor pressure plate. There are also two levers on the wall, (both are down at the start). Step onto the plate. Pull the right lever up. Drop an item so that when you step off the plate, the plate remains depressed. The E door is now open. Go into the room at the end and open the chest with a lockpick. Take the Bezel cup (it has four jewels instead of the usual one), the star 'shooting', some coins and a Dwarvish helm. You will have noticed a wall button in here and another curious little round hole in the wall. Don't press the button! Instead, step out of the room. Face the open E door but ensure you are one step away from the door itself. Now throw the star 'shooting' at the wall button and this will trigger the hole to fire arrows at the chest. The E door will also close moments later. Return to the middle of the corridor and stand again on the pressure plate. Pick up the item you left on the plate, then pull the right lever down and the left lever up. Now step off the plate and go back through the W door which has now opened. (You will probably have to fight more Jelly fish before you can get out of this room again). Return to the secret room. Note that monsters can attack you through secret walls and they can also enter the secret room and wait for you in there! Anyway, now go and do the S side. Press the left wall button and go through. There isn't much in here except for a pile of bones and the same note from Geof to Orin. Return and do the south right wall button this time. A corridor has a floor pressure plate. The plate opens a niche so leave an item on the plate and take the Mine Key 4. Return to the secret room again. Now try the E side. Press the left wall button. Follow the new corridor to a door. Beyond this door is a pressure plate. The door will close behind you. There are more Jelly fish in here! Down the S is a pressure plate with a fire pit behind it. This is the start of a long L shaped corridor full of pits that activate/deactivate the next fire pit. You will have to step onto a few 'live' fire pits to reach the niche at the end, which contains a useful wand of fireballs. It doesn't last very long though (only 4 or five goes). Give it to the character with the lowest Mage ability and it might just boost his levels a bit. Save it for a few minutes as you will need it shortly. Go back to the E side and press the right button. Through the corridor that opens here is a strong smell of gas. Step back and either cast a Fireball or use the wand of fireballs. This will ignite the gas and explode, opening up the dead end. There are yet more Jelly fish in here, so be careful! The niche around the corner contains Mine Key 5. All that is left now is the W side with the lock. The Mine key 4 opens the lock and two corridors on the left and the right will open up. On the left side you will find a sword flayer lying around. There are a few more of the armoured worms/snakes. There is also some stairs down but they cannot be accessed right now (once you have opened a lock on level 4 later on, this staircase becomes open). Now do the right side. There is a door and a lock that is opened by Mine key 5. Beyond it are some stairs up. Once you step through the door it closes behind you so you can't go back. (However, if you re-enter the level later it will be open again). (iii) Mines level 1 (new area) You are now back on Level 1, but in a new area. A sign says 'Remove all weapons before entering'. You don't have to do this, but it is a subtle hint that standing by the sign or leaving an item on the floor there will do something to the level. Leave any old item on the floor and you will hear a rumble. Explore the level. If you look at the map you will discover quite a few secret walls on the south side. The furthest secret wall can be isolated if you haven't manipulated the hidden floor plate by the sign properly. Also in this level in the NE corner you will discover a pile of bones, an emerald blade and Mine key 2. Explore each secret wall in turn. You will discover more of the bouncing beasts and the giggling little men but not much else, until you enter the furthest S secret wall. Inside is a chest which contains a Hale Leather Jerkin, and a Great 'maul' hammerhead. Graffiti also proclaims "Uklug woz heer. Orx rool"! The secret wall in the SE bottom corner has a lock just around the corner. Use Mine key 2 in the lock to make the new passage permanent and no longer hidden. Nearby is a wheel and a pit that guards a niche. A bit further down the corridor turns and you meet another pit. Ignore that for now and return to the wheel. Turn the wheel to close the pit. When you pick up another Mine key 2 from the alcove, the pit opens again and leaves you no choice but to go down! (iv) Mine level 2 (small new area) You are in a small ante-room with one solitary armoured worm for company. Kill it then look around. A pressure plate stands by a wall button. Stand on the plate then press the button. A teleporter appears in a nearby alcove. Drop an item to keep the plate depressed, then step off and enter the transporter... (v) Urbish Mining Company (again) and levels 1 & 2 (again) You have been teleported to the stairs that you entered the Urbish Mining Co. offices by. Go back down to level 1 and go to the two wheels and the teleporter again. Teleport again into the secret room on level 2 then go via the W exit and go back up to the new area of level 1 with the secret walls. (vi) Mines level 1 (New area again) & New ante-room level 2 Stand by the lock by the entrance to this area. Use Mine key 2 on it and the door will open. Inside is a wheel. When you turn this wheel the floor opens up into a pit and you will drop into a new small ante-room on level 2. Stand on the pressure plate and you are surrounded by two pits. Step off the plate and the pits disappear. Simply drop an item on the plate to open the pits and drop you into level 3!.... @~To be continued in the next file.