Might and Magic IV:Clouds of Xeen - New World Computing

         Part 5 of a solution by Alex van Kaam

@~Continued from Issue 30

Behind this door there were a few priests and two more Mega
Credits.  We killed the priests, got the Credits and left the
room.  We continued east and found another room to the north, this
room was almost the same as the one just before.  Again we killed
the priests and got two more Mega Credits.

We left the room and continued east, again we found a room to the
north, this time there was an altar, a coffin, two potions, some
priests and two more Mega Credits.  We killed the priests, got the
potions, destroyed the altar, opened the coffin and killed the
Lichs and of course we got the two Mega Credits.

We left the room and headed east, it seemed we now had reached the
end of this corridor, there was a book here from which Nomad,
Gothmog and I learned the Hypnotize spell.  We now had completely
covered the temple so we left, we first went to Mirabeth and gave
her the Elixir, in return we got 250000 Xp.  and +5 Personality.
We then headed to Rivercity for some uncursing and rest.

The next morning we trained at the Street Fighting school and
headed to Castle Burlock to give the engineer his five Mega
Credits. Boy, were we excited, finally our own castle......


            ------------> Chapter ten <------------

          ------------> a 1000 terrors <------------

We gave the five Mega Credits to the engineer and he said that by
the time we got to Newcastle the wall would be finished.  And so
it was, Ebenezer welcomed us and gave us a stone that one of the
workers had found, it was the Stone of 1000 Terrors!!  We first
entered our castle and found some useful items but the castle
itself wasn't very much so we quickly left.  Once outside we had
to find the Dungeon of 1000 Terrors, but where?  We first tried
the one in the north/west part of the Forest of the Walking Dead,
the stone didn't seem to fit so we looked at our map and saw that
there was a dungeon in the swamp.  We entered the swamp, killed
some swamp things and soon found the entrance, we tried the stone
and ... we could enter.

In the entrance hall there was a large statue, there was a
corridor leading south and one leading north.  We decided to head
south and soon came at a crossing with a swinging axe, to the west
and east there were two juice tombs, they contained some white
liquid.

Nomad and I drank from it and we got +5 Luck permanent and we
became insane!!  We continued south and when the corridor headed
west so did we, we passed two groups of four swinging axes, we
were heavily damaged here.

At the end of the corridor we came to a door leading north, behind
it was a Tomb Guard and two Ghouls, we quickly killed them and
entered the room.  To the north there were two tombs but none of
us were strong enough to open them, in the middle of the room was
some kind of green stuff, when we stepped in we were transported
to a crossing.

There were gates in all four directions, we decided to enter the
south one first, behind it we found a Tomb Terror, another
swinging axe, a Mega Credit and two juice tombs.

We killed the Tomb Terror, got the Mega Credit and Nomad and I
drank from the juice tomb which contained a blue liquid.  We were
already insane so we only got +5 Personality.

Next we went through the north gate which had the same room behind
it as the south gate.  Again we killed the Tomb Terror, got the
Mega Credit, and Nomad and I drank from the juice tomb to get +5
Intellect.

We then went through the east gate into a room with a Tomb Terror,
a swinging axe, a transporter and another Mega Credit.  We killed
the Tomb Terror, got the Mega Credit and went through the west
gate.  Here we found another Mega Credit, a Tomb Terror, a
swinging axe, a transporter and two juice tombs.  Again we killed
the Tomb Terror, got the Mega Credit and Nomad and I drank from
the juice tomb to receive +5 Accuracy.

Since there was nowhere else to go we stepped into the transporter
which transported us back to the entrance hall.  Before we
continued we decided to go back to Rivercity and get us all cured,
so said so done, after all of us were back into top shape we
re-entered the dungeon and headed north.

We soon saw a door leading east, behind it were a few Ghouls but
nothing interesting.  We continued north until we saw another door
to the east, again a few Ghouls behind it and a cage.  We left and
continued north until we came at a T-junction, to the east was a
room with a few cages but nothing of interest.

We headed west until we came to another Mega Credit, we got the
Mega Credit and headed south until we came to a door leading east
into a room.  In this room we found a lot of cages, stocks and one
iron maiden, we quickly left the room and headed south.  We soon
came to a swinging axe with two juice tombs to the east and west
side of it, Nomad and I drank from the purple liquid to get +5
speed and to become insane again.

We continued south until we found another Mega Credit, we got the
Mega Credit and entered the room to the east, inside there were
six iron maidens but nothing special.

We continued west until we came to a door to the north, we went
through the door into a room full of swinging axes, there was a
safe route past the axes and at the north part of the room we
found three thin walls we could bash in, the middle one lead to a
Mega Credit and the two others to a juice tomb which contained a
red liquid, Nomad and I drank from this one again and received +5
might.

We left the room and smashed the west wall, behind it we found a
juice tomb with some green liquid for +5 endurance.  Nomad drank
it and we continued west, we entered a door to the north and came
to a large room with some axes.

In this room the were six juice tombs, two green, two yellow and
two red.  Nomad and I drank from it and got +5 endurance, +5
accuracy and +5 might.  In the north path of the room were two
tombs we could now open because Nomad and I raised our might with
the juice tombs.  Inside were some Tomb Terrors but nothing
special.  In the north part of this room were also some thin walls
leading to two rooms with a open tomb in them, the tombs were
empty so we left the rooms and headed south back into the
corridor.

We continued west until we came to the end of the corridor and
another Mega Credit, we got the Mega Credit and left the dungeon.

Once outside we headed to Rivercity for some uncursing and healing
at the temple and from there to Castle Burlock, to the engineer.
We gave him another five Mega Credits and he promised to build us
a keep.

            ------------> Chapter eleven <------------

   ------------> Our castle and the Golem dungeon <------------


              ------------> Part one <------------

             ------------> Our castle <------------

By the time we got the Newcastle the keep was finished, Ebenezer
gave us another stone that was found while building the keep and
we entered.

Well, what a fine castle this was, there were two towers and a
main building with two floors.  In the main building we found an
armory, a training school, a store room with food, a temple and a
bank.  We also found a well which raised our armor class by 20,
there was also a entrance into a dungeon under the castle but this
was blocked by some rubble.  What we also found, on three statues,
were these three words:  'BO', 'LA', , 'RA', and on two beds these
two words 'TO', 'RY', together they formed the word Laboratory,
strange.......

Roodhaar cast her Lloyd's Beacon spell so that we could always
return quickly to the castle if we were in need of something.  We
now had to find the third dungeon, but where?  Looking on our big
paper map we saw that there was a dungeon entrance to the west of
our castle in the Troll Forest.  We decided to go there and on our
way to it map the whole area between the river north and the end
of the world south.  So said so done.

We soon encountered some Evil Rangers but thanks to the well in
our Newcastle they had a lot of trouble hitting us.  Near the
river we came to a tent, inside lived Tito the elf priest, he told
us that he had lost his Holy Book of Elvenkind in the Troll
Forest.  We agreed to find it since we were going there anyway.
We continued and soon came to the Well of Intellect and the Well
of Personality which gave +50 on these two skills.  By now we were
also under attack from Evil Archers, they shot electric arrows at
us but the Protection from Elements spell that Gothmog cast gave
us enough protection to kill them.

Along the way we also came to the Tower of High Magic but we
couldn't enter without the proper key.  Just north of the west tip
of the swamp in the icy land we found the Holy Book of Elvenkind,
we brought it back to Tito who gave us 60000 Xp. and 25000 Gp. in
return.

North/west of where we found the book we came to a dungeon
entrance, we tried the key and were allowed to enter.

            ------------> Part two <-----------

         ------------> Golem dungeon <------------

In the entrance hall we saw four statues, one south saying "Home
of the wood", one north saying "Home of the stone" one to the far
east saying "Home of the iron" and one in the middle saying "Solve
the wood, it's like a tree, cut the branches and return to me"

We decided to enter through the south gate and came into a room
full of Wood Golems, they were easy to kill and we headed south,
at the south end of the room we found two King's Credits.  Looking
at our map we saw that this room with its side corridors looked
like a tree, as we entered one of these side corridors we saw a
switch at the end of it.

Turning the switch closed the corridor off from the main room, but
how do we get out?  Roodhaar suggested to set the Lloyd's Beacon
spell in the middle of the room and then close a side corridor,
cast the spell again to return back into the main room.  So said
so done, we closed six of these side corridors and returned to the
statue in the entrance hall.

This time it said "Next is stone, It's full of blocks, push them
around, expose six rocks.  Last is iron, there is a key, set the
tumblers and you'll be free" We headed north through the gate into
the territory of the Stone Golems.  After killing them we found
two rooms to the east, they both contained a King's Credit.  To
the West there were three rooms with a switch, we pushed the
switches, I don't remember what order, until six of the eight
blocks in the main room were lava stones (just as the riddle
said).

Next in line were the Iron Golems to the east, we killed them and
found another King's Credit, we also found a corridor with six
switches, after a bit of trying out we pushed the north/west,
north, south, south/west switches.

We now could follow a corridor north/east into a room with a few
Iron Golems, a transporter and a door to the west.  Stepping into
the transporter brought us to a little room with four other
transporters, stepping into these brought us to an already mapped
part of the dungeon, so no use really.

We went through the west door and came into a room with two King's
Credits, one north and one south.  To the west was a switch, when
we pushed it a transporter appeared in the middle of the room,
before we entered Roodhaar set her Lloyd's Beacon spell to this
room so we could always return here.  What a good thing she did
that, as soon as we were transported we were attacked by all three
kinds of Golems, we killed them and found to the north another
transporter.  We entered and came in a room with a Diamond Golem,
we were unable to kill him, but he damaged us a great deal, the
only thing to do was to retreat using first a time distortion gem
we had and then the Beacon spell.

We tried a few more times but we couldn't kill him so we decided
to leave the Golem Dungeon.

We went back to Newcastle for some recovery and from there to the
engineer of the king, he told us that he could open up our dungeon
under the castle but we needed a permit first.  We went to the
king's advisor but he said we first had to find Crodo.

We headed back to Newcastle and started to think ...
1/ we needed a permit
2/ we had to find Crodo

"Wait a minute," Gandalf said. "Remember the riddles from the
Cloud Kingdom, one of the lines said 'Illusion holds magic key',
now look at the big map in the middle of the icy region there is a
cave called 'The cave of Illusion'."

We made sure we had enough food and headed to the cave.  We found
it quickly and thanks to our moutaineering skills we could easily
reach it.

Gandalf cast his Wizard Eye and we entered into....


            ------------> Chapter Twelve <------------

         ------------> The cave of Illusion <------------


I can be very brief about this cave, it was full of water and some
Water Golems.  The Golems were easy to kill and didn't use any
magic.

There were also some skulls which offered to increase some of our
attributes in return for some gems, on the first level this were
only 10 gems but on the fourth they asked 200 gems.  We didn't
really need to raise our attributes so we ignored the skulls.

All the levels had some whirlpools on them which transported us to
a different location on the same level, we didn't use these very
much since they were very confusing.

Since this was the cave of Illusions there were a few about, some
spears dropping from the ceiling that didn't harm us and some
hands holding weapons which we couldn't take.

We cleared every level and then descended on to the next.  On the
fourth level we found a skull that offered us a key for 300 Gems,
we agreed and got the key to the Tower of High Magic, just as the
riddle said.

After we got the key we quickly left and went to the.......

            ------------> Chapter thirteen <------------

        ------------> the Tower of High Magic <------------


As we entered we were attacked by Flying Feet!!!! We easily
killed them and explored this level, there were a few boxes of
which two were empty.  In the middle of the tower there were two
traps which we easily avoided once we knew where they were.

And in the four corners of the tower was an Anti Magic field, this
field removed almost all the magic we were using, like Wizard's
Eye and Levitate, once we passed those fields we found some
potions, one of them raised our resistance against fire, the
others against cold and electricity.

We left this floor and went up the stairs to level 2. Here we also
found some boxes and potions and there were also a lot of traps.
After opening one of the boxes we were attacked by a sorcerer,
since the anti-magic fields that were also on this level took away
our resistance spells we were heavily damaged, but when we could
attack him we killed him with one blow.

We left this floor also and entered level 3. Here we found a few
more potions and in a box to the north the scroll of Implosions.
In the south room we found three more boxes and two more potions.
We got the potions and opened the boxes, the west and east boxes
contained some feet and a sorcerer, we killed them and then opened
the south box.

Inside we found a large red dragon, we weren't strong enough to
defeat it so I used the scroll of Implosions on it, it worked
perfectly, I released the scroll and the dragon was history.  It
was a shame for the scroll but it was the dragon or us.  Except
for two traps there was nothing else on this floor so we headed up
to level 4.

This was a long corridor, we came across some anti-magic fields, a
few boxes and two books.  The boxes contained one Implosions
scroll and two Star Bursts scrolls which we of course kept, the
first book learned some of us the Prismatic light and from the
second book we all learned the Prestidigitation skill.  We headed
north through a gate and killed a sorcerer and a few Flying Feet,
behind them we found a box which contained the key to Darzog's
Tower.....at last.

To the east we found some stairs upwards and when we took them we
found ourselves in a new part of the Cloud Kingdom.  We covered
the whole area, the Jump spell was very handy for jumping from
cloud to cloud.  On the clouds we encountered a few Cloud Golems
which took a lot of beating, there were also a few drums, we used
them but we only heard some sound, nothing happened to us.

We also found another four statues, they had the following text
on them:          "Five more will raise your castle walls"
                   "Taxman opens Golem's halls"

                  "Highest magic holds solution"
                   "Darzog's dark convolution"

                  "A secret room in tower drear"
                  "Holds the lands lost overseer"

                "Though evil wizard has been beat"
                 "You can't yet lord Xeen defeat"

After covering the whole cloud section and getting all the items
we returned to our castle.  Here we did some training, sold some
items, got some food and headed to Darzog's Tower.

         ------------> Chapter fourteen <------------

     ------------> Darzog's tower.....and more <------------


As we entered we were attacked by Carnage Hands, we killed them
although they took more damage than the feet in the Tower of High
Magic.  We soon came to a anti-magic field with three doors
leading south, west and north.  We first entered south, killed
some hands and examined the grates on the floor.  Next was the
west door and after that the north door, we killed all the hands
and examined all the grates.

At the end of the north corridor we found some stairs leading up
to level 2.

As we entered we were attacked by a Darzog Clone, a few good
arrows took care of him, on this level were a lot of transporters
and the only way to move around was using a jump spell.  In three
corners we found six books, they all raised one of the prime
statistics by 20 permanent, we decided that I would read all the
books so that I would become some sort of mega warrior.  I did
read all the books and became very strong, my lowest statistic was
40.

We soon found the stairs up to level 3.

Here we were greeted by another Darzog Clone which we killed, to
the west we found a door with a lot of Darzog's Clones behind it,
they all could be killed by a few good shots.  When we entered the
room we were attack from the north by Darzog himself, we didn't
take any chances and used one of our Star Bursts scrolls on him,
he was immediately killed and we could examine the room.

There were two chests which were empty and some stairs leading up
to level 4, it seemed we couldn't enter the south part of this
level.

We took the stairs and came to level 4, at the end of a corridor
we found a tapestry with a button behind it, when Rak*el pushed it
a wall was removed in the north/east of this level.

We came into a room with a chest full of gold and another tapestry
with a button behind it, Rak*el pushed the button again and a wall
was removed in the south of this room.

Behind this wall were a lot of hands we killed, there were also
some stairs leading up and a rope ladder leading back down to
level 3.

We went down the rope ladder and came into a room with a bed, when
we examined the bed we found Crodo the overseer.

He thanked us and gave us one million experience points!!  He also
told us that Lord Xeen lived above the tower but that we needed
the sword that they were making in Newcastle before it was
destroyed.

We left the tower and went to the king's advisor telling him that
we had freed Crodo, he was very thankful and gave us a permit to
clean the dungeon under our Newcastle.

Next we went to the engineer and gave him his five King's credits,
he told us that by the time we got back the work would be
finished.

@~To be continued next issue.

                              - o -