Lands of Lore:The Throne of Chaos Virgin/Westwood Associates

     Part 3 of a solution by Roy Sims, IBM PC version.

@~Continued from the last file.

(vii) Mines level 3

You drop into a very dangerous room. Flying Avian worms regenerate
quickly in here. Quickly dash to the NW corner and locate a secret
button, then dash up the new corridor quickly, as it launches
something nasty at you from the north. You will find many flying
Avian worms on this level, as well as a four legged stone beast
with a mouth for a head. Kill it with blunt weapons (Maces). You
will find human bones and a pick lying around nearby. In one
corner is a weak wall. Hit it with the pick and it will collapse.
Explore some more and you will eventually find a wall button. This
opens a new small room that contains a niche holding a silver key,
and a teleporter. There is also a lock on the wall here and guess
which key opens it? Yes, the silver key!

Explore some more and you will notice that the walls have nest
holes in them. Cue yet more Avian worms! A note found in a dead
end says 'PISCATA ROSEA 4 4 5'. Through a secret wall you will
find a door flanked by a strange socket on one side, and two
levers on the other. Around the corner is a chest, which contains
a square gold jewel and another empty flask. The jewel fits in the
socket and opens the door.

Inside is a mine car, but if you climb into it and try moving off,
it refuses to budge. Climb out and have a look at the levers.
There are three possible tracks to follow, and the levers
determine which track you go down. They start both being down.

Levers              Track follows
----------------------------------
Up and Down         East
Down and Up         West
Up and Up           South

The East track leads to an empty room of no importance. The South
track leads to a room with a wall button. Pressing the button
takes you to another area. Another wall button takes you to a dead
end.  Baccata will notice recent digging in the wall here. Using
your pick hit the wall and remove 5 lumps of coal. This is for
using in the machine back in the Mining Offices. Return by
climbing back into the mine car and setting off. Now go down the W
track. A red door lock can be picked. Kill the stone beasts and
locate the down exit to level 4...

(viii) Mines level 4

This is the bottom level of the Urbish mines. You are in a very
small L shaped corridor with a wall button and the stairs you just
used. Pressing the button creates a teleporter. Step into it and
you are teleported just a few short feet away to a new area.
Behind you is a wall button. Press it before you move through the
corridor else you will be shot at from the hole in the wall ahead.
Another wall button in the S area leads to a door flanked by two
locks. Neither can be opened yet. Further ahead to the N is a
crossroads with a spinner. Unlike the earlier spinners, each time
you turn on the spot this one will spin you again. You will notice
four wheels close to this spinner crossroads. Just turn each one
once and you will notice that the spinner doesn't spin in all
directions. Each wheel toggles the spinner's directions on and
off. Turn each wheel once and the spinner is deactivated! N of the
spinner you will find bones and a letter from Hank to Jarod. In
the pile you will pick up a gear (cog). This too can be used on
the machine in the offices.

Now explore the rest of the area. More stone beasts here, except
one or two of them might drop a Bloodstone, which you should
collect. One corridor ends in a rock pile, another triggers off a
rockpile as you approach. Use the pick to dig through the
rockpiles and you will find nothing in one of them, and a pile of
bones in the other. Examine the bones to invoke the spirit of
Orin, who will talk to you and warn you to get out while you still
can. Once the bones have finished, examine them thoroughly to find
a rusty key.

Use the rusty key in one of the two locks by the door in the S
region. Whilst you still need another key to unlock the other, you
have now triggered the staircase down on level 2, that was closed,
to become open. You must get back down to the secret room on level
2.

(ix) Mines level 2 (again)

By now you should be able to work out a route to get you back.
(Hint - it involves a teleporter on another level getting you back
to the Mining offices. Whilst you are there, fix the machine by
putting file lumps of coal in the compartment then closing the
door. Add the gear (cog) to the others then pull the lever to get
it going. Now, nip back to level 1 and use the teleporter by the
wheels to get you back to the secret room on level 2). Locate the
stairs via the left passage from the W side and go down.  You are
in a small level 3 area. A button is in the west wall and the
stairs lie behind. A spinner by the button makes things difficult,
but press the button then take the shiny key from the niche and
leave.

(x) Mines level 4 (again)

Get back to level 4 by going back to the new area in level 1 with
the secret walls and drop down the pit in the far E corridor. Use
the teleporter in the ante-room to go back to the Urbish Mines
offices. Go down to level 1 and jump down the pit instead of using
the teleporter when you press the button. In this new small room,
press the button and drop down another pit to level 3. Now make
your way through the secret wall to the mine car and take the W
route then use the stairs back down to level 4.

Now, use the shiny key in the other lock (by the door with 2 locks
- you opened the first with the rusty key earlier). Enter and
quickly get out of the way as a fireball launcher continuously
fires from the opposite wall. This is in the way of a door in the
corner that must be opened. To make matters worse a spinner is
located next to the door and in front of the fireball launcher!
Make sure people are healthy, then stand on the spinner and work
out which way to turn to be spun towards the face of the door. Now
open the door. You will probably be hit once or twice by fireballs
whilst doing this but your party should survive.

Around the corner from the door is the second member of the
council, Paulson! You will tell him of the elixir recipe and ask
him for his key to the King's shroud (remember you already have
one from Dawn). Take the key and then Paulson will join your
group. On the way out he will tell you of a secret wall button
hiding his equipment. Turn S to find the button. Press it, take
the items inside (Dwarvish boots, Axe 'vixen', Mine key 4, oil
flasks, Bezel cup (4 uses), Vaelan's cube, chain mail and a Great
helm). Equip Paulson with the relevant items.

Be careful on your way out again as the fireball launcher is still
on the go. Mine key 4 will open the remaining locked door (by the
teleporter) on this level. Inside are 3 teleporters.  E one does
nothing. S one takes you back to the secret room in level 2. N one
takes back up to the Urbish Mining Co's offices, so step into the
N teleporter and prepare to finally leave the Mines and get some
fresh air!

(xi) Urbish Mining Co (yet again)

Leave the office level by the stairs then turn left at the top so
that you go out by the upper Opinwood forest.

(16) Upper Opinwood (again) and Yvel Woods

Back in the forest, head for the barrier created earlier by
Scotia.  You will have to kill quite a few Orcs and other beasts
en route.  Once by the barrier, stand right up close to it and
then use Vaelan's cube twice. The barrier will twist and bend and
then vanish. Explore a bit and locate the Yvel cave. This will
take you directly into Yvel Woods...

Yvel woods is reasonably large, and it contains a whole herd of
very tough Great Orcs. In fact they may be so tough that you might
want to go in and tackle the White Tower before facing these
beasts! (You should emerge stronger and with better weapons at
your disposal).

(17) Tower - Level 1

Initial impressions of the tower are good. It seems to be
deserted!  It also makes a change to see nice clean surroundings
after the dark caves and dingy mines. A rapier 'Talon' lies
nearby. A note in a niche says 'ring for admittance'. There are no
bells or buttons to push, and none of the rings you possess do
anything either. Open the nearby door and go inside. There are
many doors on this level.  A star 'Vega' lies on the floor. A hole
in the wall doesn't seem too dangerous (for now). There are some
open grates at floor level which you should close.  Sooner or
later you will bump into some Amazon women, who immediately attack
you. Whilst normally you wouldn't hit a woman, it's killed or be
killed in here so fight them off as quickly as you can. One of
them might drop a long sword 'Gnarl'.

Most of the doors have strange mystic locks that come adorned with
a strange beetle style depression. One or two of these door locks
can be picked. An alcove beyond a picked door contains a niche
with a dagger and some more lockpicks. A mystic key lies on the
floor which might have been dropped by a killed Amazon. It is
reasonably well camouflaged against the floor so make sure you
don't miss it! Use this mystic key in a lock by the door at the
end, but nothing will happen. A wall button to the left of the
door will open it. Inside is a chained prisoner, who is recognised
by Baccata. The thief was jailed by the Amazon Queen Jana. Release
him and he will give you 9 coins (he's supposed to give 10 but he
keeps one back for himself). A button on the wall in here reveals
an amber ring.

Go back to the niche with the note and place the amber ring in the
niche. The wall will open. Inside is the Amazon Queen Jana. She
will first warn you, then insult you. You must now fight and
defeat her. Employ the age old tactic of moving around whilst
fighting her. If you need to rest and heal people, dash out and
remove the amber ring from the niche to stop Jana following you.
When you're ready, go back in and finish her off. Once dead, she
will drop the Great Sword 'Trouble'. The niche in this room
contains another mystic key. Take the key and another wall will
open. Little green slugs will appear, as well as quite a few
Amazons who aren't that happy that you have killed their Queen!
Another mystic key is dropped by a defeated Amazon woman during
the battle.

A door nearby is opened with one of the mystic keys you now
possess. Inside is another mystic key! Another nearby door can be
picked but nothing is found inside. More Amazons will appear
during your explorations.

A chest turns out to be empty, and the door near to it contains
nothing but a blank wall! However, it also creates a wall that
cuts this little room off from the outside. Use this opportunity
to heal everyone and do whatever you want (sleep if need be). Just
close the door again to remove the wall and let you out again.

Exploring the entire level will open all of the rooms except for a
few. One seems to be opened by a normal key (rather than a mystic
one). Another needs a mystic key and the last door doesn't seem to
be opened from this side at all! Now is the time to use the
staircases you should have found behind two doors opposite each
other (in the corridor which is in line with the shooting hole at
the end, which is triggered by a nearby wall button).

(18) Tower - Level 2

Taking the E stairs leads to a small room which contains a mystic
key. Go up the W stairs and the same key will open the door here.
Again there are quite a few doors in this area. Flying chickens
with an eyeball instead of a head that shoot fireballs generate
nearby. Kill them off easily, but avoid the fireballs from a
distance. One of the doors reveals a blank wall. Another door
opens into a room full of pressure plates. No matter where you go
in here, a whole load of fireballs are launched from all
directions.  Quickly dash into the NW and SE corners of this room
to take items from the niches in the walls (Mystic key in the NE
niche, a Fireball spell scroll in the SE niche).

The key taken from the fireball room opens another door to reveal
stairs up to the third level. Don't go up here yet, as there is
still some exploring to do on this level. Another door leads into
a very small room. Writing on the wall reveals it to be the 'Dark
Room'. A button on the opposite wall doesn't budge when you press
it, so try closing the door first then pressing it. A niche will
appear and you can take yet another mystic key.

A door lock close by can be picked. Go inside and the door will
close behind you. You are in a room full of pits. However, some of
them are illusions. Discovering which ones is easy. Drop an item
and see if it vanishes or not. You will discover that the safe
route is N,E,E,N,N,W then you can take the mystic key lying on the
floor in the corner of the room. A secret wall is also in this
room, but the pit in front of it is real, so you can't go through
it yet.

Tip: If you drop through some of the real pits in this room, you
end up beyond two of the doors you couldn't open on level 1. One
of them is the door that had no locks. Behind it is a short
corridor and a dead end. A button will open the door permanently.
Another room that you can drop into contains an Amazon woman.
Again, a button needs to be pressed to open the door here. When
you have dropped through into these rooms, try the mystic keys you
now have on the locked room on level 1. One of them should now let
you in.  Inside is the Altar de Blanca. There's nothing to take.
On the altar is what looks like the neck of a bust - but without
the head!  Return to level 2. Since there's not much more to do on
this level, head upstairs to the third level.

(19) Tower - Level 3

A spirit will warn you to leave. Baccata will advise caution as he
senses great danger nearby, but Paulson will have none of it and
is not deterred by a ghost. In a few moments he will learn to eat
his words!

You are in a small area with two doors and one Mystic lock. None
of the keys you currently have will unlock it. Through the other
door is a switch on the floor that can be pressed. It opens a
niche which contains the very Mystic key you need to open the
door!  However, you will wish that you hadn't when you first
discover that this level of the tower is haunted by many different
spirits, and each of them can pass and attack you through walls.
Nowhere is safe!

Tip: The best weapons to use are Emerald Blades. You should be
able to hit for an average of between 150 - 380 damage on the
ghosts. If you need to rest you will have to nip back down the
stairs to level 2 for the moment. Note that at various points a
large fast snake spirit will attack and bite your party, and you
cannot fight it off! These attacks can be devastating and they can
happen in rapid succession. The reason why you can't do anything
to stop it is because the snake is actually a spell being cast by
the spirits!

The door nearby leads into an open area containing a chest that
can be picked. Inside is a salve and a dagger 'fang'. Another door
nearby leads into a room with many spirits and a wall button down
one side. If you can reach the button alive, pressing it will open
the wall behind you. Down here are three doors. The N and S doors
have wall buttons outside. When you press them they reveal
sliders.  Pressing these will actually open the doors. However,
the only door you should be concerned with is the N end door.
Behind the door is an empty dead end and a secret wall. Step
through the wall into a new corridor.

In the S end of the corridor is a door. Behind that is a chest
that contains the long sword 'Protector'. Follow the corridor to
the N and you will come to a pit. (You could drop down the pit and
enter a new area on level 2 that contains a Minotaur, more flame
grilling chickens and a corridor with four buttons - but you don't
need to.  You can also find the other side of the secret wall
found in the pit room on level 2. However, the pit by the wall
there will only drop you back down into level 1 so there's not
much point!).

Anyway, to cross the pit you must throw an item across the pit to
hit a wall button beyond. Don't press the wall button on your side
of the pit else the other one will fail to close the pit. Dash
down the new corridor. You are now in a reasonably large area, but
as ever you will be chased by spirits!

The first chest you come to contains a few coins and the long
sword 'Entropy'. Round the corner is what look like a dead end but
there is a secret wall close by that leads to another chest.
Inside this chest are some Dwarvish boots, a staff 'Tarsal' and a
Mystic key.

Exploring some more you should soon find a few doors. The first
door leads into a corridor. At each end is a locked door. The W
end door is opened with a Mystic key that you should already
possess.  Behind this door you will find a niche which holds an
Ivory key.  (This key opens a door on level 1 of the Tower and
gives you access to the Tower sub-level which is discussed in a
moment). The E end door can be picked, but there isn't anything
behind it so don't bother. Leaving this corridor, you will soon
find another door, but behind it is a blank wall.

The next door is a bit different. If you try and open it now, a
lion's face will form in the door and you will be told that you
have "...no faith" and the lion will flash its eyes at you. (To
get through you need to be carrying the Crucible of Faith which
you haven't got yet, although again there isn't much in the chests
beyond the door so why worry?).

Before we head back down to level 1 to use the Ivory key, explore
the rest of this level. 1 of the 2 floor pressure plates will give
access to a secret wall. Behind it are a few useful items like a
sabre 'cougar', Bannon's reserve (a blue potion that restores
magic points) and a salve. The Bow 'Gemini' is also lying around
nearby.

If both pressure plates are left depressed (on) then a chest
appears near a secret wall to the south. Inside the chest is a
Wand of Lightning, 400 coins and two more bottles of Bannon's
reserve.  Through the secret wall is a room that contains nothing
of any value or use.

Make your way back down to Level 1. Once there, find the SW door
that remained locked. The Ivory key opens this door and gives you
access to some stairs leading down!

(20) Tower sub-level

Step forward a few times and you will hear a piercing scream! The
niche in the wall is empty. Around the corner is a sign that says
"Face your greed". Along the floor you will see various items move
around a pillar as if on a moving conveyer belt on the floor.
Around the pillar are four empty niches. The items are a wand of
death, a Dwarvish horseshoe, a Dwarvish Helm and a sabre 'cougar'.

Tip: If you were to walk past this puzzle and try and explore
further, you will be teleported to another room on the sub-level
full of spirits. The teleporter is disabled once the puzzle is
done.

Place one of the items in each niche. I put the sabre in the N,
the Helm in the E, the Horseshoe in the S and the Wand in the W.
Once done the niches vanish and if you go back to the empty niche
around the corner, the items are now there. Take what you need,
although you probably only need the wand. Now explore some more
and you will meet up with an old woman, who will give you the
Crucible of Faith once you have answered a simple manual related
question. (The Crucible is the head you need for the Altar de
Blanca on level 1 of the Tower). Take the crucible. You are now
making good progress.

Return to level 1 and take the crucible to the Altar. Place it on
the neck. Now you must place in the crucible each Elixir
ingredient in turn. They are:  Honey vial (honey from the Hornets
next), Swamp water vial (from the sink holes in the swamp),
Bloodstone (from the stone beasts in the mines). Unfortunately you
don't have the fourth ingredient yet.  It is found in Yvel City.

Now you have no choice but to leave the Tower and re-enter the
Yvel Woods. However, you should now be much stronger and better
equipped to face the Great Orcs who wander through the woods ....

@~To be concluded next issue.