Clouds of Xeen - New World Computing Solution by Alex van Kaam It took me a full afternoon to make these characters, I tried to get their prime statistics as high as possible. This means that it could be that your characters are unable to defeat an enemy and therefore not advance so quickly as the ones in this solution. The best thing to do then is to go on some subquests and return to this solution when your party is strong enough. There are more than enough subquests so that should not be a problem. Also note that all these characters are human and have therefore the swimming skill, if one of your characters is not human you can learn the swimming skill in Rivercity near the pier. Never ever sell any items you have in your miscellaneous inventory they could be your only hope of surviving if all your spellcasters are low on spell points. Once you have the recharge spell you can use it to recharge some very useful items like the coin of daily protection or the gem of transportation. Clouds of Xeen as told by Aragorn Dragonslayer ------------> Chapter one <------------ ------------> The city of Vertigo <------------ We all met at the Lady Geraldine's Tavern, we are Gandalf a human male sorcerer, Gothmog a human male cleric, Rak*el a human female robber, Roodhaar a human female archer, Nomad a human male paladin and myself, Aragorn, a human male paladin. Here we decided to form a team to slay Lord Xeen, we all put our gold and gems together and left the tavern, as soon as we closed the door behind us we were attacked by a green slime. After slaying it, we entered Norman's Iron Works to get some good weapons and armor, we only had 800 Gp. so I bought myself a short sword, Nomad a wooden sabre, Roodhaar a brass sling and for Gandalf a robe. We decided not to buy more, because we never knew if we needed some gold to pay for a healing in a temple or whatever. When we left Norman, we entered the tent that was in front of his shop, in this tent lived Gunther the Mayor. He told us that most of the population had left the town, because of the slimes and doombugs that made life impossible here, a couple of years ago he hired a man called Joe the Exterminator to get rid of this menace but the problem only seemed to get worse and he would be very happy if we could help him clean up the town. We went to the town gate in the south and from there we headed west, we soon came to a iron gate with two green slimes behind it, here we decided that Rak*el, being a robber, would open all the gates and chests we would find. So she opened this gate and we all killed the green slimes, we continued west and soon came to a wooden crate, this was empty so we headed north. Here we were attacked by one slime and three doombugs, after this unexpected fight Roodhaar was unconscious, so Gothmog cast first aid on her. We entered the first door on the west, the one where the doombugs came from, and searched the room without finding anything, we left this room and headed north. We killed another green slime and entered the second door to the west, here Nomad found a scale armor, he equipped it and we left. Again we headed north and we found a wooden crate which was again empty, here we turned east and went through a gate. To the north was Thylon's training school, we entered but he told us that none of us was experienced enough to gain a level, so we soon left. If we headed east it would take us to the mainstreet near the mayor's tent so we turned and headed west back through the gate to the third west door. As soon as we tried to open the door we were attacked by two doombugs, of course we killed them and entered the room, Rak*el searched the room but found nothing so we left. We headed north again and were soon attacked by a doombug from the north and one from the west, we killed them but Roodhaar, Gandalf and myself were unconscious after the fight so the others made camp. Next morning we were all back in top shape, we opened a wooden crate which was of course empty again and we continued north, we soon found a gate to the west with lots of doombugs behind it, this seemed to be some kind of lair. We opened the gate and killed them all, after searching through the rubble in the lair we found a jewel. We left the lair through the south exit, killing another doombug and heading west. At the T-junction there were two doombugs to the north which we killed and we headed south through a gate. We kept heading south till the road turned east and we came to a gate, we were now back at the first wooden crate that we had opened. Looking at the map that Gandalf made, we saw that we had covered the southwest of the town, so we headed north passed the lair until we saw another wooden crate which was empty again. From here we went east, Rak*el opened the gate which was trapped and we continued east until we came at the main street. Since most of the slimes and doombugs seemed to be in the side streets we turned around and headed west back to the wooden crate. Here we headed north where we found three wooden crates which were all empty. At the last wooden crate was a gate to the east leading to the main street, so we headed north again and soon found a door to the west. We entered but since this room was empty we left. We headed north and when the road turned west we followed. At the T-junction we turned south and we turned east at the first side road. Here was a door to the south and after searching the room behind this door we found a ring mail. We left. Going east would take us back to the three wooden crates so we went west and south again. The next side road to the east would take us back to the north exit of the doombug lair so we continued south. We found some more rubble here and soon were at the gate where we had slain two doombugs before. By now we had also mapped the west side of the town so we turned around and headed north to cover the northwest corner of the town. We soon found a gate and continued north. We followed the road first north and then east, again we came to a gate with four green slimes behind it. Of course we killed them and went through the gate, here we saw a door to the south, when we approached we were attacked by a large breeder slime. After killing it we were close enough to the door to read the sign - "Joe's Storeroom". We entered and were soon attacked by more creatures than we could count, we had to retreat a few times behind the gate so we all could get our hit-points back, but in the end we were the winners. In the warehouse there were a lot of wooden crates, some of them were empty; others had a piece of armor or a doombug inside and the last one we opened had a bill inside from or to Joe saying the price of slime breeders. It seemed that Joe who was hired to get rid of the creatures was in fact the cause. Well, this was a bill the mayor would be happy to see. We left the warehouse and decided to check-out the rest of the town before showing the bill to the mayor. So we went through the east gate and headed the same way, past a green field, south to another gate which was trapped. We went through the gate and killed the doombug that was behind it, then we headed west, killed another doombug and opened the again empty wooden crate. We continued west. A little bit to the the south was another wooden crate, empty of course, so we continued west, a few steps north and west till we came to a gate. This led to the main street so we turned around and headed back to the last wooden crate we opened. From here we went south and then east into the jail of Vertigo. The jail was empty so we left and continued south, at the T-junction we decided to go west, killing the green slime and going through the trapped gate. To the north was the entrance to Gilbert's Hexes, not being a member we left. Going west again would take us into the main street so we went east. Here we came to another gate with two more doombugs behind it, we killed them and continued east through the gate. At the T-junction we decided to go south as going north would take us back to where we were before, according to the map that is, so we headed south and through a gate, killed two green slimes and headed west. Just before a gate there was a door to the north leading into the Tavern, we entered and talk to all the guests, searched the Tavern and left through the same door. We turned west, through a gate and into the main street, now we were back at the place we started from. We headed north on the east side of the main street, passing the Tavern, and the tent of Vern the Guildman who would make us a guild member for 25 Gp. We continued north, past the bank and onto a green field, in the middle of the field was Rialdo the Ranger who would like to teach us pathfinding for a mere 2500 Gp. Since there needed to be two party members in a party to use the skill it would cost at least 5000 Gp. which of course we didn't have. We left the green field and went west past the Greenslime temple, then we turned south passing the shop of Mylo who could teach one of us Cartographer but Gandalf already had this skill so we left and continued south. We soon came to a magic mirror which after asking some people about it, would take us to any known destination, very handy indeed. We soon came to the tent of the mayor and boy was he happy, he gave us the Outstanding Citizenship award, 5000 Xp. and 4000 Gp. and 50 Gems. He also told us that the Dwarves in the Red Dwarf Range need some help getting rid of a Mad Dwarf Clan. We left the mayor and went first to Thylon's training school, Rak*el advanced to level 4 and the rest of us to level 3, after this we went to Vern and we all became guild members except for Rak*el. In the guild we decided that all the important spells would be learned by at least 2 party members so if one was not able to cast a spell the other hopefully was !!??. Gandalf learned Wizard's Eye which was a big improvement on his Cartographer skill and he learned Jump, as for Gothmog he learned Protection from Elements as this seemed like a very useful spell to us. Roodhaar also learned Jump as a substitute to Gandalf's Jump. As for Nomad and myself we both learned Cure Wounds as this was probably a life saving spell. After the guild we went to Norman, we all had some good armor already so we sold all the extra items we had and bought all his long range weapons and all the short range weapons we could equip. The last thing to do was to get some food since we didn't know how long we would be gone from a town, so we went into the Tavern, bought the food, rested and left the town. ------------> Chapter two <------------ ------------> Our first outing <------------ Outside the town of Vertigo we saw a tent, this was the tent of Myra the Herbalist and she had trouble obtaining the Phirna root because you could only find these roots in the green meadow and the witches who lived there changed everybody they saw into big toads. If we could get a Phirna root she would give us five anti-poison potions. Gandalf said that there maybe traps in the Red Dwarf Mine so we could use a few anti-poison potions. Looking at the big paper map we had we saw that the meadow was just south from here so we headed that way. We soon encountered some orcs but a few good shots and blows took care of them. We crossed the bridge to the south and came to the meadow on the east and a wagon to the west. We decided not to enter the wagon yet, it would probably be another quest, and went into the meadow. Soon we encountered a few toads and snakes and after killing them we started searching for the Phirna root. After a while we found one in the northeast part of the meadow. We dug it up and headed full speed to Myra since we had no intention in becoming a toad. Myrna gave us the five anti-poison potions and we went to the spring we saw when we first crossed the bridge, just before the bridge to the east. I first tried and gained 25 hit points for the rest of this day, the others soon followed. Standing here at the spring we also saw a tent on a island in the river, since we all could swim we decided to go and see who lived in it. We walked into the water and headed towards the island. In the tent lived Orothin the Hermit and he told us that on the two islands nearby he had built two statues. One will teach cure disease and the other cure poison, but he lost the bone whistle that activates the statues near Pitchfork Creek. Since knowing the spell was even better than having a few potions we decided to find the whistle. Looking at our big paper map we saw that Pitchfork Creek was again south across the bridge and then west. So we crossed the bridge and turned west, past the wagon. We were soon attacked by skeletons and zombies which we soon found out couldn't cross water so we retreated into the river and shot our bows at them, not very brave but it worked. In the middle of the river we found a well which gave us all +60 luck for a day, we all drank from the well and continued west on the river bank. Soon there was a path leading south which we thought could lead us to Pitchfork Creek. We headed south and soon came to a clearing in the forest with another spring in the middle. After drinking from it we all had increased 5 levels. There was just a little bit of forest between us and Pitchfork Creek to the west, but since we didn't have the money to learn pathfinding in Vertigo we had to leave the clearing the same way we entered it. We soon came back to the river and headed west, the further west we went the closer the forest came to the river and soon we had to enter into the water and swim west past the forest. To the south was another well and this time we got +25 magic points for a day after drinking from the water. Following the river south we entered Pitchfork Creek. The first thing we saw was a shrine and after checking it out we saw that it was a shrine for the undead so we destroyed it and gained +5000 Xp. Of course we were attacked by zombies and skeletons but we won and soon found a dead body west of the shrine which had the bone whistle on it. The whole time there were enemies attacking us and we weren't strong enough to keep this up for a long time so we quickly headed back to Orothin and gave him the whistle, earning us a staggering 15000 Xp. He activated the statues and we went to the two islands east of his tent to find the statues. On the first island we found the shrine of poison and we received after praying +50 point of poison resistance. North of the shrine there was the first statue. Nomad, Gothmog and myself learned the cure poison spell and we headed south to the second island, here we found the second statue and again the three of us learned the cure disease spell this time. With all the extra Xp we gained today we decided to head back to Vertigo and go to Thylon for some training. Just before we wanted to enter the town Gandalf spotted another well to the east of the city. After drinking from this one we all gained +5 armor class. At Thylon's training school we had our first set back today, we all had enough Xp. to gain a few levels but we didn't have enough gold pieces to pay him. Anyway we trained as many of our party as we could and went to the tavern for some well deserved rest. ------------> Chapter three <------------ ------------> The Red Dwarf Range <------------ The next morning we had some breakfast and headed towards the dwarf mine which was, according to our big map, west of Vertigo, we soon found the entrance to the first mine of the range better known as Mine One. ------------> Part one <------------ ------------> Mine One <------------ Once inside the mine I cast a light spell so we could see where we were going. There were bats all over the place but a few good shots took care of them. The entrance corridor led north, we followed it and turned east at the first side path. Here we found a empty barrel so we continued east, we soon found a wooden crate which only I could open with my Might being the highest. Inside was a lot of good stuff, from armor to weapons. After getting everything from the crate we continued east finding another wooden crate, empty this time. There were two doors here, one leading north the other south. We first went through the south door which was trapped and gave Rak*el a good shock. Inside we encountered our first three Mad Dwarfs which we killed after a short fight. Inside the room were a lot of beds, some containing nothing, others armor and weapons and some even a trap. After cleaning this room we entered the north room. This was much smaller and housed only two mad dwarfs, again we searched the room and found a lot of items. We headed back west to the entrance corridor, now we took the first exit west, just opposite to the first east exit we took. This was a big hall with a few empty crates and barrels but also some barrels containing red and white liquid, we soon found out that the red liquid gave you +2 might permanent and the white +2 luck permanent. After checking all our stats the one who needed to gain some points on might or luck drank the liquid. To the south of the hall was a door leading to a small room. In this room there were three empty crates and one chest containing 2000+ gold pieces. We left the small room and went back into the great hall, in the northwest part of the hall was a corridor blocked by a gate. We went through the gate and headed north. We soon stepped on a trap but we didn't receive much damage. At the first side road we turned east and entered another great hall this time filled with lots of barrels. After a bit of trying out we discovered that the Green liquid gave one of us +2 Endurance, Yellow liquid +2 Accuracy, Purple liquid +2 Speed, Orange liquid +2 Intellect and Blue liquid +2 Personality and they were all permanent. There was also a dead body in a corner and Rak*el found a piece of paper with "travel code A----" on it. After comparing the handmade map with Gandalf's Wizard Eye spell we discovered two thin walls we could bash in. We first knocked down the northeast wall, we found some rubble but there was nothing special in it, so we headed north and soon saw a large spider web covering the complete corridor. We went north through the web and soon encountered a giant spider. Roodhaar said that the spider would probably be poisonous so we'd better kill it from a distance. A few good shots took care of him and we decided to kill all the spiders from a distance if we could do so. At the end of the corridor we found our first gold vein. Nomad mined all the gold he could and we returned south back into the hall with all the barrels. Next was the thin wall to the north, again some rubble this time containing two giant spiders. At the T-junction we headed west and killed another three giant spiders. We soon found two more gold veins one to the north and the other to the south. After getting all the gold we headed back to the T-junction and went north. Here we found another gold vein, got all the gold and went south back to the hall with all the barrels. We left the hall the same way we entered it and headed north. We soon found a body to the west containing a shopping list. We continued north, killed a giant spider and found another gold vein. When Nomad tried to mine it we had a cave in and all of us lost a lot of hit points, a good rest was needed to recover from it. By now we had covered the complete north part of this mine so we headed south back past the trap and through the gate. The only bit left was east. We found another body this time with a note saying "travel codes: Mine 1, Mine 2, Mine 3, Mine 4 and Mine 5". Nearby was also a Mine car and we could use those travel codes on the mine car, but we decided to go first back to Vertigo and get some more training since we now had enough gold to pay for it. @~To be continued next issue. Alex's maps for these sections are @~in the next file.