ALBION - part 2

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      Original author - Ramon R. Brasser (101353,3414)

@~Continued from Issue 52

MAINI:

The first thing to do here is to look for your next party member.
You can choose either of two, but the mage (called Khunag) is
recommended by most people. It is up to you: somebody good at
fighting or a poor fighter with good offensive spells only (no
healing spells). The warrior is a woman called Siobhan. But Khunag
will help you through parts of the Kenget Kamulos dungeon you need
to go to much later. You will find both possibilities in Beloveno,
the big city that you start in. Then it is a good idea to explore
the countryside, and maybe even talk to the members of each town/
village.

When you try to talk to Kontos, the leader of the mountain village
Kounos, you will be stopped by a guard called Nodd. However, if
you steer the conversation in the right way, you will not have to
fight him. But you always can, of course. Then it is wise to
explore the dungeon under the house.

On the first level you will find a chest with a power amulet in
it, but once you have it, it seems like you cannot go on anymore.
But you can! There is an illusionary wall close by. If you then
get to the point with the three pressure plates in a row in front
of three doors, run over the plates as fast as you can, otherwise
you will not make it through the doors.

On the second level it is imperative that you explore all of it,
especially directly south from the exit. You will find something
that is needed to complete the game. The game itself takes a long
time to complete the plot for this continent and be allowed to
move on, but all of us have found out through trial and error that
you have to just be patient. You may also buy a map that may help
you find a cave entrance but you can find it without the map if
you explore. The cave is not absolutely essential but has some
nice loot. It is the same one whose other entry is blocked by a
door you can't get through except from inside the cave.

Every morning between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., there is a trainer
in the village at the house of the leader (where the dungeon is).
He is the only trainer that is able to teach you critical hit.
However, it costs 950 gold per point, so think twice. I found it
very useful anyway, especially for Drirr and Tom. Sira already has
her 5/5 score, so do not bother to train her.

The entry to the cave discussed above is from the plateau lower
than the village, and to the east. I strongly recommend that you
explore it, because it contains some very nice stuff, including
the best sword in the game, although it is cursed. But you have to
have a rope, otherwise you will not be able to get out.

It is also imperative to talk to lots of people on this continent,
repeatedly in some cases, going back as you learn new things. Some
examples are: the council members in Beloveno, the barkeeper in
the Iskai village in the north of the land, and Kariah, the
prostitute with her house on the market square. The barkeeper will
give you the second piece of the vital item, after a while.

There are also lots of seeds here. Collect and move on. After the
problem is solved, you will probably want to go to the Iskai
shrine and kill Kontos. He has a few goodies.

DJI CANTOS:

This mainly goes all by itself. You also get a new party member
here, an Enlightened One named Harriet. In the southwest of the
building, there is a woman who sells spell scrolls. If you got
Khunag, buy all the spells that he does not know, as there is no
other way to learn them. There is no hurry to go to the Toronto,
despite the fact that Harriet pushes you to do so. The first thing
to do here is to look for those Flowers of the Goddess you are
told about. Stand on them for about 15 seconds, and the leader of
the party will have one of his attributes (which depends on the
flower) increased by three points. These flowers are for about 15
uses as far as I know, but save the game before you use them and
think which party member needs this little boost the most. You
will have to wait for 36+ hours until they can be used again. If
you have visited them all (there are eight in total) it is wise to
collect the two party members who took a vacation when you left
the last continent, as they are very useful.

UMAJO KENTA 1:

If you have explored this city a bit, you will be told there is a
prison north of the city. It is useless as far as I know, but if
you are anxious, by all means go. You can free the prisoner, but
it has no use that I am aware of. You cannot pick the lock, so you
will have to wait until the guard comes (at 11:00 p.m.) to open it
for you. You can follow the guard there (a long walk!) or find it
on your own. First buy the preservative that keeps you alive in
the desert. Get several. You get them from the man in the
Equipment Makers Guild.  To get to the Toronto, you will have to
talk to some of the people in the bar, and in the Miners Guild.
Bringing a jewel is recommended. The guide will then show you to a
cave entrance. The southern exit from the cave leads right to the
Toronto. The other exit is useless.

TORONTO 2:

Look everywhere for pieces of paper with numbers on them. The code
for the door is 1001, in case you could not find the piece of
paper with it.

Once you are in the 3D part, have Joe wake up the robot so that it
is able to open the door for you. In the long corridor, stand as
far away from the switch as possible, so that you can just still
manipulate it. Then run as fast as you can to the other end, and
turn the second one. A little further on, free all the robots as
then the doors open quicker.

A little further on, make sure that the floor pattern on the west
side matches the one on the east side. You should go to the east
one first. Then turn all the switches as quick as you can. The
next door to open has the code 4312 in case you cannot be bothered
to try all the combinations on the pieces of paper, or were not
able to find them.

UMAJO KENTA 2:

Fist thing to do here is to go to the building in the northeast of
the city. You are now able to pass as the guards let you through.
You are told to look for a man in the cellars under the Equipment
Makers Guild. However, you do not have the key and you need a
secret password. He told me the first time I went there and had to
go back until I had the password. Well, in order not to have to
make the trip twice, the best thing to do is to go to the Miner's
Guild. Go all the way into the big room. You notice you only have
access to one mine shaft. Go in there and stand in the niches so
that the guards do not see you. Get to the second niche on the
right and overhear the ceremony. ONLY THEN DO YOU KNOW THE
PASSWORD!! The next thing to do here is to look for a guy called
Zebanno. Fool him and he will give the key to you.  In the
Equipment cellars, you notice that there are knifes on the ground.
Search the halls until you enter a big room which has a hammer on
the floor. Go back and follow the knifes. You should end up in a
room full of them with a chest surrounded by the knifes.
Manipulate the switch and use the hammer to knock down the knifes
to get to the chest. Search it and you should find a key. Go back
to the entrance and manipulate the switch close by (which you
could not do earlier). Now, enter the door and manipulate the
switches until they are in the positions shown. This will get rid
of the knifes.

Now, follow the corridor until you get to a big room with a chest.
Just before this, you may have seen a door which leads to a room
with an anvil in it. Well, you use it to turn swords into
two-handers. It only has a limited number of uses. You cannot open
the chest in the big room yet, but the road is clear. Go west and
search the chest in the west of the dungeon.

It has a key with which you can open the chest in the big room.
Open it and raid it. The map makes this place a lot easier.
A little later you get to a room with extinguished torches and a
fire. If you have a full bucket ready, splash the water over it.
If you do not, then do not bother as this is not imperative to win
the game. The darkness leads the way to the pressure plate.

As you proceed you will get to a room where there is a switch
which is only visible at certain times. Activate it and you should
be able to enter the mine shaft.

Once you have entered, you will be in a first person perspective.
You are close to the guy you came for. Go west and then south. The
corridors should lead you to him. You may have noticed there is a
orange curtain in front of a door, made up of flying balls. Well,
these doors are one-way doors only. When you walk through the
curtain, it opens the door, but it closes again as soon as you
have walked through it, and it cannot be opened from that side
again.  This can be very frustrating.

Once you have talked to the guy, you can either go or search these
cellars a bit more. It contains an item which is supposed to be
vital, but no-one knows its use.

Anyway, in order to search this place more, you need to go all the
way to the southwest until you get to a pit. Fall through it and
you will end up in a room with a spinner. In the next room there
is a chest with a crystal staff and there are four flames. The
staff can change the colors of the flames. In order to open the
door, all flames should be blue, in case you could not figure this
out. There is a button just west of this door in the same room.
Push it and a pit will appear.

Now go west. There are a few switches there. Push them all until
the leader says he heard a sound from the room you fell into. Go
back to the room with the flames, go back down the pit WITH A
ROPE, and then go back to the room with the spinner again, exactly
the way you came. Go into the next room.  Manipulate any switches
that you find, and explore the part east of the room with the
flames too, as this too contains some switches. And look out for
illusionary walls (you will probably see them on the map). Repeat
this until the door to the west of the room with the spinner is
open. Go in there and search the chests for the Stone of Visions,
which is supposed to be vital.

This is also a very good training area. Every time you step on the
blue pressure plate, Animals 3 will appear. A total of 16. Kill
them as many times as you want (or can) to get as much levels as
possible. This is the quickest way to get levels in this game, so
I recommend you have a look there.

When you get out, go to the Jeweler's Guild if you want to to see
the effect of the Stone of Visions. The Guild is behind a closed
door (on the map that is) in the south of the city. When you enter
you see a big stone on the floor. Use the Stone of Visions there,
and it enlarges itself. Now touch it. You will be healed. You can
now heal each party member. There are no more uses that I found.

When you have finished here, go look for the High Knowledge. Go
back to Maini and take the northern exit. The Kenget Kamulos
residence is just east of there.

@~To be concluded next issue
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