Anvil of Dawn (Part 3)

                       Author unknown

@~Continued from Issue 43

THE ELDER TREE / THE LAND OF ROOTS

Quest Items: Dragon Amber, Hallowed Staff of Elder Wood

Now that you've beat the underground city, you should have the
Trumpet of Earthen Quake in your possession. Head toward the tree
and you will see the bridge is up, turn right and keep going until
you see a big rock holding back the sea. Use the trumpet. You can
now enter the Elder Tree. Once you enter the tree, you can get rid
of the trumpet. You don't need it anymore.

The Healing Altar is just outside the entrance room, to the west.
There is no Mana Altar in this Dungeon. This place is divided into
the ground floor called the Land of Roots, which is rather large,
and the Elder Tree, which is a series of small floors leading up to
the top. You need to go to the top floor before you do anything
else.

When you enter the tree, you start out in a room with a door to the
north and a teleporter east and west. Go east to the teleporter
that takes you to the stairs. Go north to the stairs, fight your
way to the top. The Fungus Man and Earthbile monsters will poison
you and there are no poison cure bottles on the way, so use your
stash sparingly. The floors with the Fungus Men are a trap.  There
are hidden alcoves behind illusory walls where fungus men lie in
wait.  When you get attacked by a fungus man coming at you from the
front, wait for him to come to you. DON'T stand in front of those
illusory walls or you will be slammed from three sides! Kill the
Fungus man and run for the stairs. If you really want to fight the
others, go ahead, but you can by-pass these levels once you reach
the top. You don't need to come back this way. At the fourth floor
you will see a pressure plate. Drop a bag of rocks on it and a wall
opens up. You will get an Earthen Rot Spell inside a chest there.
Now go up to the top and exit the tree.  Turn to face the west and
the tree spirit will appear. She will give you a wand of healing
called the Hallowed Staff of Elder Wood. This thing makes your
healing spells a lot more effective when you hold it. Now go back
into the tree and take the teleporter to the second floor and head
for the Land of Roots.  You're ready to finish off the rest of this
dungeon.

Okay, let's start from the stairs and work our way back to the
entrance. South of the stairs is a rolling rock that keeps entering
a teleporter and coming back around. Wait for it to pass then enter
the teleporter. It should take you west of it. If not try again,
then move out of the way so you don't get clobbered by the rock.
Due North West of the stone teleporter is a illusory wall facing a
north passage. Enter and go to through the other illusory wall. Be
aware that a spinner will trick you and make you face the opposite
direction, so watch the map window on the lower corner of your
screen. When your direction turns you can back up into the wall, or
just turn yourself around again. Heal the root you find hidden away
in there. Now go south the way you came, then west.

There will be a door with a teleporter nearby. Enter the teleporter
and you will find yourself in the room behind the door.  When
you're finished you should have a stone claw key. Step on the plate
and you will be let out. Go south of there to find the room needing
the stone claw key. The place is large and full of fungus men. West
of this room is an illusory wall where a big rock rolls in and out.
Follow the rock and you will find another root to heal. Back
through the stone teleporter until you are back where you started.
Head due east, then south down a twisty passage. When it comes to
the T crossing, go east. You will enter a room with spikes and a
rolling rock. Navigate around the rock and head north, turn east
then go down another long passage, being careful to avoid another
rolling rock. At the end are some chests with some useful stuff and
another root.

Now go slightly north and enter an illusory wall on the east.
There is a teleporter inside.  Take it. You will find yourself in a
room in the North East section of the map. It goes in a circle
around an area with no door. There are four pressure plates in this
area. One of them will move when you step on it. Weigh this one
down with a bag of rocks. Now repeat on plates, using blocks when
you run out of bags.  Go back to the first bag and pick it up. A
door will open in the wall. Kill the earthbile, raid the chests and
heal the root. After retrieving your bags from the plates, enter
the illusory wall and go around the teleporter. You will find
another root to heal. Once you're done with it, you can enter the
teleporter and make your way back to that T crossing.

Go west, young man, but the passage will turn south. Go all the way
south till you come to a room with four teleporters in it. The
front two blink on and off.  Wait for the top ones to blink off
then step into the back teleporters. You will find yourself in
either a passage with a chest or a hall with a root to heal.
Whatever, do your thing then re-enter the teleporter and get to the
other hall. When you're done, teleport out of there by re-entering
the 'porters until you are able to leave the room.

Head north and face the east door that needs a copper sun key. You
should have found one in the teleporter room. Open the door and do
your thing. You will find a illusory wall to the south. Put a bag
on rocks on it and it opens a wall in the main room, revealing a
chest.  The chest has some armor that's better than the Sea Shell
stuff, but just as goofy looking. Don't worry. There's some fly
armor coming up later in the game. Now head west again. In an area
where blue fires sprout you will see a door to the south opened by
a pressure plate.  That's the entrance room. You want to pass it
for now and keep going west. Take a north west route first. It
leads eventually to a passage that heads south over two pressure
plates. Step on the first one and a wall opens up nearby. Go
inside, do your thing. Explore the rest of this small area, and so
on. Due west of the entrance you will come to a shut door. South of
there is an area with pressure plates and a block. Cast a
Reflections on the Lake spell and push the block all the way west.
The door will now be open.

Talk to the purple rock and you will be almost be finished with
this dungeon. In the south west corner of the dungeon there is a
shut door and two pressure plates. Step on them to open the door.
Heal the root inside. East of this door is an area with a rolling
rock. Moves north and south in front of an illusory wall. Go inside
and get some block figurines. They'll come in handy later on.
Okay, you're almost done. Go back to the entrance room and take the
teleporter to the dragon (the western 'porter). Put the ruby shard
you found earlier into the hole in the wall next to a door and get
the jar out of the chest. Now Click on the ornate hole in the wall
where the dragon comes out and say its name. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE
JAR ON YOUR CURSOR ICON when you do this. A dragon comes out and
spits amber.  Gather it up with the jar on your cursor. You now
have the second quest item the demon mentioned.  Put it away with
the heartstone. Now leave the tree through the way you entered. You
are not ready to cross over into desolation yet. Go back to the
underground city and take the west exit. Head for the Barrier.

THE BARRIER

Quest Items:  Spring Equinox Disc

Before you enter this place, turn right and go into the ruined
house. You will find an old man there who wants to trade with you.

Buy everything he has. You will get some useful items. Now head
back to the barrier.

This place is a simple maze.  You can cut straight through it once
you solve the place, but first you need to deal with some
headaches. The monsters here are the hilarious Clansmen, who sound
like Scotty on Star Trek, and the Colossal Baboons who are no
laughing matter. You can avoid the baboons by freeing their king.
But to do that you have to fight a bunch of clansman. The main goal
here is gather up four ivory lion keys and place a stone block on
each of the four pressure plates found at each corner of the
dungeon. When you enter the East entrance of the place you find
dying warrior who tells you the tale of the place. Past him to the
west is a door opened by a switch on the wall. This will lead to an
area with a spinner. There are four directions you can go in this
spinner area. Go north. It takes some getting used to but
eventually you can do it without a lot of effort. Due east of the
north door in the next room is a Healing and Mana Altar. Now, you
can go north, east, or west when you enter the north door.  Unless
you need to use the altars, go north.

The first room you enter has a side passage to the west full of
stone blocks.  Destroy the first block and you will see an illusory
wall. Enter and follow the passage around. When you come out the
other side, push the block in front of you north onto a pressure
plate. Now destroy the block to the west. You can then enter a
secret area and find members of the resistance. Take four stone
block figurines from the chests in there. They're needed for this
level. Go back past the blocks and head north. West is an area with
lots of plates. Cast a Reflections on the Lake spell and walk over
the plates until the door to the west opens. Go inside and find the
withered hand key and the first plate you need to weigh down. Put a
block on it.

Before you explore any more of the north section, go back to the
spinner and head through the south door. Either fight or avoid the
baboon that you see, but head due south of the door until you find
a Green Baboon behind a force field. He's their king. Talk to him,
then use the withered hand key to free him. All the baboons will
vanish from the game and you will not have to fight them. If you
want to fight them, save the king for last. Behind the king are
some chests. One of them has the Spring Equinox disc. Put it away
with the Sun disc and the other quest items. Go north again and
finish off the north area.  Heading west of the North door, you
will find more chests.  Heading east, past the altars, you will
come to a twisty passage that heads North East. When it dead ends,
fine the switch that opens a wall. Cast a Reflections on the Lake
spell and move through the next area as fast as you can.

There are doors that open and shut in the walls. If you move fast
you can catch them all before they close. When you see the pressure
plate, put a block on it. Now go through the south door again. Head
east. You will come to an area with a row of plates.  Walk over the
plates then put a bag of rocks on the first plate.  Find the SE
corner plate and put a block on it.  Now head west.  The SW plate
is in a hidden area. Find an illusory wall on the south wall.
Behind it is a teleporter. It will take you to the area with the SW
plate. Put a block on the SW plate and one rock on the other plate
to activate an escape 'porter. Now head down the south west passage
and you will come to an area where four doors need four ivory lion
keys. You should have three by now. A Clansman will drop the fourth
one when you kill him. Open all four doors and throw all four
switches. The blocks you put in the four corners opened inner doors
here. If you failed to place any of the blocks, these doors will be
closed. Throwing the switches opens the way due west. Go back to
the spinner. Head west. Unlock the first door then throw all the
switches you see on the way out.  These turn off spinners.  You are
now across the scar and ready for the Temple of the Moon.

@~More next issue









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