Faery Tale Adventure 2 A Foreigner's Guide To Farr, part 5 From Dave Booth Concluded from Issue 59 MALDAVITH - THE BUCCANEER'S DEN (West of Ta-Taaven, RCS or Overworld Obelisk no.14, sextant ref. 358/1043) If you walk around near this town you'll be beset by aggressive bandits. Each speaks with a distinctly nautical burr. That's because the town has been overrun by a band of pirates! This once thriving coastal area is now a hell for landlubbers, as the Tapstone in their midst has made them too weak to defend. Being attacked every two minutes by pirates can become a bind, particularly when you're trying to explore. Thankfully you can stop their onslaughts. Simply divest one dead pirate of his Pirate Sigil and equip it - instantly every other will take you for a shipmate. This is most useful when exploring the area around Maldavith, which positively crawls with them. In Maldavith itself, people talk (in sotto voce of course) of the tyrant Muybridge. This guy loves gold. Other peoples'. He commands the pirates, and uses their muscle to extort the townspeople. So, he must die. If you can find him. Esmond Kendall in the Warehouse is a good trader for selling any excess armour and weaponry you collect from dead pirates. Amble into the 'Skull and Cleaver' for a drink and a chat with Dodds, your friendly host. He lets slip that Argus the blacksmith could make you a blade with which to eliminate Muybridge. Argus in turn is in the Curious Cutlass - maybe a visit to appraise his gear is in order. Magical swords? You already have two...but another one won't go amiss if the price is right. Useful, but not essential. Visit the House of Brindav, to consult the local library. Here you'll learn of the magical sword Tempest, its owner Devlin, and a book on Chaos, which of course means Thorolis. Knowledge is power, as they say. Along the bay you'll find a boat, but the Captain won't sail. Who would put to sea with so many pirates about? Remember the vessel's location though, it'll be handy later. Back to the action - time to find Muybridge. He's holed out in a cave out of town at 114/977. It's fun to find this place without a Sigil, because the pirates swarm it like flies. With a Sigil, you have to endure their calls of 'Ar matey!' and the like. Without, you have to fight. Personally I prefer to knock them off. Down in the cave you'll bump into Dark Warriors. The fights just get harder, don't you think? Not surprisingly, because at the end of this onslaught you'll encounter old Muybridge himself. The man has a nerve, he invites you to join with him! Of course you object. With his merrie men he assaults your group. Prepare for a battle royal! The dead Muybridge has on his person a Resurrection Spell scroll (at last!) and a poxy steel long sword (find the nearest bin for it). However, in the boxes he guarded you'll find better loot : a scroll describing the dark pact between the Drow and Muybridge, oodles of cash and mana, a ruby amulet (protects against fire, heat, yellow and red magic), a scroll of ice storm, and a book on the legendary land of Tamnath. Tamnath, it transpires, is a sunken city in the heart of Maldavith. Nice place to hide something, don't you think? Exit the cave, fighting Wraith Spiders en route and collecting a chest full of arrows and an Emerald Crown (giving immunity to mental attacks, very nice). Notice anything different on the way back to Maldavith? All the pirates have turned to ghosts! Looks like Muybridge had more sway over them than mere money. Still, with the buccaneer threat gone, that boat you found is available for passage. Board and prepare to sail to Tamnath! Your welcoming party in the sunken (well, half-sunken) city is a band of serpent men. Again, easy meat by now. What is less straightforward, is that you have to walk along rooftops to explore. Don't slip! You did? Watch the bubbles, too many and it's a watery grave for a brother. And once in the drink, it's difficult to get out. At the apex of Tamnath is a house with three switches on the wall. You need to throw them in order, and in two combinations. Without further ado, the combinations you need are DDD followed by DUD. 'Click' - and the *Tapstone of Maldavith* appears in a nearby room, hitherto flooded. It's useful at this juncture to post a brother near the centre room and one in the switch room, and flip between them as you throw the switches. Saves traipsing around in the wet. You've saved Maldavith! What now? If you visited Flump at 'Swines Pride' in Bilton, you will have learned of a frozen waste to the North - the land of Mons. Wrap up well, it is darn cold there. Sapphire rings do just as well, by the way, as will the Cold Shield spell if you're desperate. MONS - THE ICE GIANT'S LEGACY (Due N or Maldavith town, RCS, Overworld 7, 1178/1426 typically) Brr! Very pretty snow covered landscape though, makes up for the freezing cold. There's a magic fountain at 1086/1397 if you have any magic items that need recharging. At 1099/1459 there's a cave, pretty empty but containing a nice chest with a Scroll of Ring of Force (energy spell, area around caster) and a Scroll of Rejoin! Worth a visit! Frost giants however guard the cave at 1178/1234, sensible really, since it contains the following goodies for your burgeoning collection : Scroll of Frost Bolt, Admantium Greatsword and breastplate, green mana, a *tesseract key*, Scroll of Cold Wind, Scroll of Ice Ward, and a Scroll of Major Healing - with includes curing poisons. Such a loot-rich environment is bound to have a real goodie, which is the *Shimmering Mace* held by Procrustus. Don't lose this! A larger cave at 1394/1154 contains yet more goodies, as well as Frost Giants and Dire Wolves, including very nice mithril armour and a diamond longsword. Once inside, fight through till you exit at 1458/1119. There are caves containing more quest data as well. In the cave reached at 1435/1322 you find a scroll asking for help for the writer and his comrades who are lost to the north... whilst in 1442/1300, you hit real pay dirt when, among the frost giants you just popped off, you find a scroll reading 'to break the ice and free the stone, you must have the hammer', plus one which tells that the Object of Hope is locked up within the Rock of Despair. Locate the green pillars that herald the cave entrance at 1386/1404 and you're nearly there as regards Mons. Lots of frost giants here, and at the centre of their den you find the *Tapstone of Mons* - but it's imprisoned in ice! Where's that hammer? Well... not far away in fact, at the cave at 1345/1186. But it's not easy to get at, with lots of storm giants around - these fellas like to hurl electric arcs at you. A difficult fight later you find the Tekton hammer. Then a quick trip back to the green pillar cave, break the ice, and free the stone. Whee, another one down! HATAK - GLENGL ZUR The land of Hatak is just south of Hethrallin, so hit the RCS or use the Overworld Express, exit number 11. One of the books you located in Castle Jovanc referred to the jungle of Hatak, and of the Demon which holds dominion there. The demon lives in a cave, well well, buried deep in the heart of a tropical rainforest. Not surprisingly it's infested with critters like spiders and plant men, but the caves here also are home to weird incarnations like hellhounds, dragon men, and blood vipers. Cripes! No place for a nature study. Anyway, it's relatively simple to locate the castle of Glengl Zur. Inside, among the wraiths and serpent men who guard the place, you'll find the charming Shanon Frolio. He's a tough cookie, and no wonder - he has a lovely Venom Sword on him, which is most useful. As is the Scroll of Invisibility he carries - but best of all, he's guarding the *Tapstone of Hatak*. That's all but one of the Tapstones gathered, plus two apples. Nearly there... By the way, Frolio was the demon. Nasty, 'orrible man. Nothing compared to our next visit. Guess who has the last apple and Tapstone? No, not your local greengrocer, it's good old Roska. KARMINAC - ROSKA'S CITADEL (West coast, no RCS, Overworld point 7, sextant ref 781/1443) Recall if you will one of the scrolls you got from Kram the Mad. In it, Thebe (the High Priest of the Cult of Sariloth, and all round bad guy, as you'll have gathered) commanded Kram to give fealty to Roska, who dwells in the West. Fealty indeed. What he needs... well, you will soon show him. From the scroll Loweena Gully gave you in Gully's Bakery in Padavis, it transpires that he's holed up in a castle to the West. Right. Time for a visit. This place is infested, I mean infested by imps, skelly warriors (ouch), dark warriors (double ouch), shadow warriors, serpent men and lava golems (multiple ouch). There's a locked door puzzle at the end which I won't tell the answer to exactly... except that, well, Rejoin is jolly useful at this stage. :) Sitting in his office is Mr Roska. He's another arrogant sort, and a pretty handy mage as well. Best strategy is to rush and bash the living daylights out of him. From his twitching body you liberate the *apple*, *Tesseract key*, and Roska's Heart (yuck) - and nearby, through a secret door, is the *Tapstone of Karminac*. All apples and Tapstones collected! Well done! THE HALLS OF THE DEAD (Pentere, starting point of your odyssey) The first quest you have to perform, quite simply, is to smash the Rock of Despair to get the Object of Hope, with which you melt Roska's Heart. Ok? Simple enough... actually it is, now you've got this far. At the statue of the steeds which carried you here, are three apple-shaped indents. Pop the apples into place, and the ground miraculously opens up - to the entrance to the Halls of the Dead. At the north of the corridor is the infamous Rock of Despair. Now, nothing will have prepared you for what happened next, certainly it didn't me. When you smash it, using the Shimmering Mace, the Object of Hope is revealed. Yes! Use it on Roska's Heart! No! Nothing happens! Unresolved game event. Doesn't crash the game, and doesn't stop you finishing it successfully ... but a bummer nonetheless. This bug was left in when the software writers went bust. Naughty of Encore not to complete coding it. So... onwards to the main Halls... full of wraiths, lava golems, wooden golems, and skeletons. You'll also encounter a block of interconnected lever puzzles - what is this, Myst? - and a series of teleports. Now, the spawn rate down here is phenomenal, as you'd expect for the denizen of the Lord of the Dead. Or undead. So be prepared to die a lot. Again, recall comes in very handy if you leave someone up above to pull your dying comrades out. At 1274/1161 there's a big building. Kind of like a palace. Oh, it is... the palace of Sariloth! You did remember to bring the Tapstones with you? Ok, then place them in the slots provided, and up pops Lord Sariloth. Now you have a choice. Do you : a) Join Sariloth in his vision of a world of order, or b) Liquidate cocky Lord Sariloth, or c) Bugger off quick like? Assuming you have a prior save game, try the first two. You get an ending in both cases, neither very palatable. Hmmm. What to do when you escape the Halls? Only one thing left to try... THOROLIS' HIDEY HOLE and THE BEST ENDING (Via 1125/1299) Thorolis isn't up to lording it over some subterranean palace. No, he's a bit more crafty, and is hidden. It's a pain to find manually, but the entrance to his bolthole is... a broken Obelisk. Now one of the books *does* mention this, but it's not alluded to more than once, so would be easy to miss. Still, at least you know where it is now. Use the Object of Hope on the broken Obelisk to fix it, and transport your party to a new section of the Overworld. Crafty old Thorolis, he's hiding here. He seems like a harmless old duffer, but make no mistake, he's hiding a great secret. Which his dead body shows to be the Chaos Orb, the source of his concentrated power. Now, what would happen if Chaos and Order were fused? Want to find out? Hightail it back to Sariloth, and once again listen to his rants. Of course he doesn't realise you're packing a secret now. So kill him off (which is less than easy), and collect the Orb of Order. This is your moment of glory... use one Orb on the other... And enjoy the ending. Well done! - o -