Eye of the Beholder - Part Two

               Solution by Alex van Kaam

@~Continued from Issue 29

As we headed west we came to a room on our south side, we opened
the door and saw some Shadows standing in the distance, Gothmog
cast a fireball and that took care of them.

When we entered the room the doors closed behind us and a
poisonous gas entered the room, at the same time the Shadows and
Wights that were in this room came to life and attacked us.  We
first took care of the Wights and then the Shadows, after killing
them we examined the room and we found a lever in the south/east
corner, after pulling it the doors opened and the gas disappeared.

We left the room and continued west, we went through the next
south door, of course killing some more monsters, and headed east.
We soon came to some stairs leading up and when we took them we
found ourselves back in the room with the three stairs.  Of course
we descended again and we headed west again, one west corridor
brought us to some stairs, which we didn't take and the other one
brought us, past a lever opening a pit, to a T-junction.

Going east here would take us back to the first stairs we took so
we headed west.  We soon encountered a removable wall with behind
it a Rod orb, Gandalf took the orb and we continued west, passing
another room we soon came to some stairs leading up.

We climbed the stairs and headed east, again we soon came to
another staircase, again leading up, as we climbed these stairs we
found ourselves back at the previous floor, somehow this didn't
seem right, we went twice up and ended on the same floor.

Anyway we decided not to take too much notice of the stairs and we
descended back down the stairs.  We headed north and came to two
rooms, the first one housed some Shadows which we killed but the
second one had a trap, as we entered two Shadows and two Wights
appeared to our sides.

We quickly killed them and we found a staircase leading up in one
corner of the room.  We decided first to take a good rest since we
didn't knew what was waiting for us on the other side.

As we woke up next morning we found a dwarf searching through our
backpacks.  Nomad quickly captured him and the dwarf introduced
himself as Isharn, he had a long story about him and his brother
and all kind of things but in the end he asked us if he could join
us.

He looked strong enough and we could do with another fighter/thief
so we agreed, we put him on the second row and I gave him my
trident so he could attack together with us, I took his axe+2 and
we climbed up the stairs.

We quickly came to a crossroads with two roads leading to some
kind of green/brown sticky stuff and the other one leading east.
We first entered the sticky stuff which only seemed to slow us
down, and fought off some Shadows, in the end we found a door
leading south to a small room.  In this room was another door
leading east to a small corridor with yet another door, a key
hole, a button and a plaque.  The plaque said 'Press Button For
Service', so we did, the floor under us vanished and we fell into
a pit.  Here we found a key and a transporter that brought us back
to the door with the key hole.

We opened the door and entered the room, at first it seemed to be
a plain empty room but when we checked we saw a small button on
the west wall, after pushing it a wall vanished and we found a
crypt with the name tag of Captain Fflar, I took it and we headed
back to the cross road.

Here we went east until we came to a plaque saying 'Sprites Move
In Mysterious Ways', when we entered the east corridor a pit
appeared a few steps in front of us, as we moved so did the pit.

It took a while but we found the right combination of steps to
pass the pit, from the plaque we had to move east-east-east-west-
east and then east to the door at the end of the corridor.

When we opened the door we encountered a spirit of a fallen
warrior, he kept calling for the guards but none came.  After a
little conversation with him we found out that this was Fflar and
that he didn't knew that he was dead, we showed him his name tag
and slowly he started to believe us.

Just before he vanished however he gave us the Medallion of
Friendship, he told us that it would help us in the forest, I took
the medallion and we examined the rest of this room.

In the north/east corner we found a button and after pushing it
the wall vanished and we could continue north.

First we went west but this was a dead end, we found some crypts
and a button with a pit underneath it, but that was about it.
East and north and west after that brought us to a large area with
some clubs, a crystal wall and two levers, near the lever there
was a plaque saying 'Do Not Touch'.

And, yes, we of course pulled the lever, immediately all our iron
items vanished and a lot of Shadows appeared, we quickly got the
wooden clubs and fought them off.

After a bit of searching we found our items lying behind the
crystal wall, but we couldn't move the wall.....  The only thing
left to do was pull the other lever, so we did, again some Shadows
appeared and after killing them we went to the crystal wall, the
wall was gone and we could re-equip our weapons and armor.

Next we headed north and we came to, after a bit of killing, a
monolith.  The monolith had four slots, one round one and three
long small ones, the four rod items we found fitted perfectly and
we waited but nothing happened ?!.

Gothmog suggested that maybe we should leave, so we headed east
past the plaque saying 'Faith Restoreth The Soul' into the next
room, we waited a while and then went back to the monolith.  In
front of the monolith we found the Rod of Restoration.  We all
used this rod but nothing happened so I put it in my backpack and
we headed east back to the place where we first saw the crystal
wall.

From here we headed east and north after that, here we found
another staircase leading up, we took the stairs and were back in
the room with the three stairs.  It seemed we had completely
covered the Mausoleum so it was time to head back into the
graveyard/forest.

    --------> The rest of the Graveyard / Forest <--------

We now used the axe from Isharn to cut down the trees that didn't
look very sturdy, we tried to use the medallion but it didn't
seemed to work here.  In the end we found a lot of items, two
wands, a bow and arrows, a potion, some food, and some armor.

After exploring the complete graveyard / forest the only thing
left to do was to enter the forest path we found in the north/east
corner.

So we rested first and next morning we entered through the gate
into the.....

             --------> The forest path <--------

We followed the path east until we came to a T-junction, as we
turned west to see the road we travelled a couple of trees
appeared.  Using the medallion on the trees was enough to make
them disappear.

First we headed north and we came to some thick bushes with three
holes, one leading north, one north/west and the other north/east.
As we crawled through the holes we came at another open spot with
more holes leading in all kinds of directions.

At first it seemed all a bit confusing but using our map slowly we
worked out how the holes led us to another open spot.

Anyway we head north as far as possible until we found the
Everburning Torch.  We took the torch and headed back south to the
main forest path, from here we headed east, past a tree which we
removed using the medallion, until we came to another set of
holes, we explored all the spots the holes led to and we continued
east.

Behind us some trees appeared but since they were no threat to us
we just kept heading east.  Just before we wanted to remove
another tree that blocked our way we encountered an elf by the
name of Delmar Rallyhorn, he told us that he was looking for a
sword by the name of Dhauzimmer.  He also told us that the sword
belonged to his father and that he had killed the robbers who
stole it but that he still hadn't found the sword itself.

Since we were the strongest party he had encountered he would be
very pleased to join us, since we still had some space left we
agreed and he joined our party on the second row beside Isharn.
Delmar also told us about some special skills he had....but what
skills he didn't tell us, anyway he got all the arrows we had so
he could attack from the second row and we continued east.

We removed a tree with the medallion and we came to a crossroads.
We decided to keep heading east and so we did, we followed the
path east until we were attacked by four Minotaurs, they didn't
use any magic but they were very strong.

We killed them in the end but we realised that we shouldn't take
on too many of them at once.  We continued east and when the path
turned north and west and south after that so did we, in the end
we found ourselves back at the crossroads, we continued south and
after a short while we came to an open place with lots of trees
which could be removed using the medallion.

We removed all the trees and soon we found a road leading north
and east after that.  We had gone only a few steps on this road
when we were attacked....  but we didn't see anybody, as we turned
around to look who or what had attacked us, somebody hit Delmair,
he got so angry that in front of our eyes he dropped all the items
he had in his hands and he slowly transformed into a large tiger!!
Again we were attacked but this time we saw the monster, it was a
Feyr, we quickly attacked it and after a short while we managed to
kill it.  We made camp to rest so that we all could get our
strength back, the next morning Delmair had transformed back to
his elven body and we continued east.

We soon seemed to have come to a dead end until we found a tree in
the south/east corner of this road, we removed the tree and we
continued east.  Again we came to those small tunnels and after
exploring them we found some items which we put in our back packs.

We continued east and we soon came to a few crossroads and paths
leading in all directions, we explored them all, killing a lot of
Minotaurs, and finding a lot of items.

In the end the only place left to explore seemed to be a large
maze of tunnels, we entered them all and we made sure we looked
everywhere.

We soon encountered some more Feyrs, which we of course killed,
and we also found a few items, the best one were the Gauntlets of
Fire Giants Strength, putting these on raised my strength to 22,
very handy indeed, and the Ring of Wizardry, Gothmog put it on and
he could memorize a lot more spells.  In the end we came to a
large open space with an old man in the middle, he seemed to be
some king or guardian of the forest.

He wasn't very pleased that we had chopped down his trees but
after a long apology from our side he finally agreed to give us a
chance.

One of us should read a book of his, if he choose the right book
he would attain a lot of wisdom and the old man would show us a
path into Myth Drannor, if he choose wrong however........

Since we all thought that a wise wizard was best for our party we
pointed Gothmog out to select a book, he didn't look very happy
about it, and don't ask me why.  The old man showed four books to
our mage and after a long time examining the books Gothmog choose
the Book of Arcane, at the same time he gained a level and we
could go down a road that started in the south/east of the open
space.

We followed the road east and north until we came to an opening to
the east, we walked through it and we found ourselves in......

       --------> The first part of Myth Drannor <--------

We entered the deserted city and we headed north, we soon came to
a door leading west into room one, just look at our maps for the
numbers, we entered through the door and we were immediately
attacked by a few Chimeras, we did managed to kill them, but we
now knew that we had to look out for these monsters.

We explored the room but we found nothing so we left and headed
south into room two, again some Chimeras and after killing them
we found some scrolls in this room, the most important scroll
seemed to be the Water Breathing one.

We left and headed towards room three, in this room we found a
lizard man by the name of Rex, he told us that an evil god by the
name of Moander brought his people to this world and that he was
looking for the Codex of Planes so they all can return back to
their home world.

He asked us if he could join but since we already were full we
told him that we were not interested, we sad goodbye and left.
Next we headed to room four, we opened the north door and we were
attacked by four Hags and a few Chimeras, we of course killed
them but we needed a good rest after this fight.

Next morning we explored this room, finding nothing, and we headed
to room five, again some Hags and Chimeras but nothing else of
interest.  We then headed to room six, killed all the monsters in
it and finding a Black Hammer +3 which we gave to Gandalf so that
he also could attack with us, also we found a Blessed Holy symbol,
Gandalf took it and as long as he was holding it he could pray for
some more spells.

Next online was room seven, we entered, killed some Chimeras, and
we headed north into room eight, killing some more Chimeras, one
of them left behind the Ring of Feather Falling, and we killed a
few Hags.  In this room we found a pile of items, the first mace
we found was cursed as was the first plate mail we found, but most
important we found the Helm of Underwater Breathing, we took the
good items and we left through the north door.

We first headed east which took us to the Mage Guild, we didn't
want to enter yet so we headed west, soon we came to four apple
trees with a Chimera statue in the middle, as we tried to take an
apple the statue came to life and attacked us.

We quickly took care of it and we headed west to room nine, again
we had to kill some Chimeras and in the north/west corner we
found the short sword +3 called Frostbite, I took the sword and we
examined the small alcove that was in the wall.

There seemed to be some kind of magic spell in front of it so that
we couldn't take the items that lay in the alcove.  We examined
all the spells we had and Nomad came up with the idea of using the
Dispel Magic spell to get rid of the force field spell.  Gandalf
tried it and....yes it worked, in the alcove we found a lot of
scrolls and also a Crystal Key.  We now had covered this whole
part of the city so we headed to the south/east corner of the city
and from there over the path leading east into....

    --------> The second part of Myth Drannor <--------

We were immediately attacked by some Wyverns, they poisoned us
with their tails, a few good strokes took care of them.  After
this attack we decided that Gandalf would pray for as many
neutralize poison spells as he could.

We first entered the first room and were again attacked by some
Wyverns, we killed them and we explored the room.  In the north
wall we found a hole with a lot of scrolls for both Gandalf and
Gothmog, and we found a large red diamond.

I took the diamond and we headed north towards room two, on the
way we were attacked by some Trolls, they were very strong but
they gave a fair fight with no magic or poison.

We killed the Trolls and entered room two, killed some Trolls, and
we explored the corridor that started on the west side of this
room, the corridor led north to a small room with some more Trolls
but nothing else special.

We headed back to room two and from there towards room three,
again only some monsters but no items.  Next we went to room four,
killed the Trolls and we found two items, the wand of fear and a
polearm +3 called 'Zymok'.

By now we had some good weapons, I had a short sword +3 called
'Frostbite', Nomad had a two-handed sword, Isarn had a trident +3
called 'Revko' and Gandalf had a black hammer +3.  This way five
of us could attack at the same time so we could inflict maximum
damage on any monster.

We now went to room five where we found some more Wyverns but
nothing else, from here we went south, killing some more Wyverns,
to room six, again this room was full of Wyverns and nothing else
we could use.

We killed the Wyverns and headed to the last room, room seven,
Just before we wanted to enter an old man approached us, he asked
us what we were doing here, we told him that we were looking for
some great evil.  He introduced himself as Father Jon and he would
gladly join our brave party, but since we were already full we
thanked him and we continued north through a corridor to room
seven.

To the east and west we found a lot of scrolls which we took,
Gothmog inscribed all the scrolls he didn't yet know in his book
and we continued north to a crystal door.

To the west was a plaque saying 'Ice-Chamber' and to the east was
a key hole for the Crystal Key we found in the first part of the
city.  We opened the door and we came to a room with some statues
of the god Lathander, in the north wall was a hole and a plaque,
the plaque said 'Ice, Coveted Ice'.  After a bit of experimenting
we tried to put the diamond in the hole and we were transported to
another similar room.  This time the plaque said 'Do You Fear For
Your Child?', this was very easy, we put the Wand of Fear in the
hole and again we were transported to another room.

In this room there were three holes and a plaque saying 'Choose
Wisely', we first took the bracers of protection and then we went
to the second hole, there was now a magic field covering this hole
and the other.

The Dispel Magic spell took care of this and we took 3 Wands of
Cold and 2 Necklaces of Fireball.

It seemed we now had covered this part of the city so we headed
back to part one and from there into the Mage guild.

             --------> The Mages' Guild <--------

We entered into a room with no monsters but instead of that there
were three transporters, one to the north, one to the east and the
last one to the south.

What to do next? After a short discussion we agreed to enter the
transporters clockwise, starting with the north one first.

            --------> The north transporter <--------

We were transported into a small room with a transporter in the
south/west to take us back to the entrance hall, to the north was
another small room, and to the east there was a corridor.  As we
headed towards the north room we were attacked by some Ogre Slugs,
they were no match to our strong party and we wiped them out with
no problem.  The north room was empty so we headed east into the
corridor, killing some more Ogre Slugs we came to a corridor
leading south, here we found a switch which we didn't yet touch.

Next we passed a room to the north with some more Ogre Slugs until
we came to a T-junction, south brought us to another room, north
brought us to another transporter.  We didn't use this transporter
but later on we found out that it transported us to the area which
we would access using the south transporter in the entrance hall.

We headed back to the switch we found and Nomad pushed it, we
heard some noise and after searching this level we found that a
wall near the transporter had vanished.

Behind this wall we found some Watchghosts which we killed and two
books which Gothmog took with him, the first book was the Book of
Elemental Seasons while the second one was the Book of Trobriand.
Gothmog read the books and told us that the Book of Seasons told a
story about elements and season, while the Book of Trobriand told
some thing about rings and how they attract certain kind of
creatures.

They were no use to us at this time so Gothmog hid them in his
back pack and we headed back to the entrance hall.

@~To be continued next issue.



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