Crusaders of the Dark Savant - Part 2 Written By Tom Needham Supplied by Steve Chapman Continued from Issue 72 See also the maps in the Programs folder of this issue UKPYR Departing by the gate at 18, follow the road east, south and back to the north on maps EF-6, and F-7 to the UKPYR entrance. As usual, don't ignore the forest. Enter UKPYR at 1, meet the gate guard at 2 and tell him that you want to enlist. Go to the recruiting station at 3, get accepted and sent to the Supply Depot at 4 for outfitting, which will cost 8000 gold. (The Supply Sergeant will want 9000, but if you tell him you don't have it he'll give you a bargain - actually a REAL bargain - when you sell the outfit back, you'll get more than you paid.) Next, to the firing range at 5, where you'll need 750 more for practice targets (no bargains here!). Ignore the comment that anybody who gets 3 hits gets a promotion from the Captain. I practised repeatedly with one member, eventually got three hits - but never saw a Captain and never got a promotion. Each member who practices gets the firearms skill. Have the member carrying the targets 'use' them at the far end of the range. Have someone with a gun 'use' it. Three shots, get a report and do it again. Simply pass the gun from one member to the next. (Even tho the weapon will assay as 'unusable' for a profession, it gets used anyhow.) Return to the recruiting station at 3 for your next mission - 'Find and kill the T'rang spies in the forest to the north'. Exit the north gate at 6. I found the T'rang at location 2 on F-5, just past where the road ends. They will offer a reward if you will betray the Umpani and get the location of the Umpani space ship for the T'rang. FOOTNOTE here: I lied and said I would. Every time I returned to the area they popped out of the bushes and asked if I had it yet. Had to say no, so they said they would wait. Returned to the recruiter and admitted I had found the T'rang but had not killed them. He told me to 'go DO it'. Then I lied and told him I HAD killed the T'rang, but he simply took my typed 'YES' as tho I had said 'NO' and sent me back out again. Finally had to lie again to the T'rang, tell them I had the spaceship location, but refused to give it. That, at last. brought about the necessary battle - I tromped 'em, reported back that I had done so, and finally got the next mission. I keep reminding you to explore the forest. While you're in this area, might as well find some of the flowers. On G-4, the blue flower is at 1 and the yellow one is at 2. The white flower is at 3 on F-4. At 1 on F-4, you will feel a cold chill and a blackbird will fly overhead crying 'AY-BIE'. (Maybe trying to say 'help me'? More about that later.) And don't go past 2 on F4. That's the entrance to the Sphynx (Whirlpool) cave, and we're not ready for it yet. Your next mission is to carry a message to Rodan Lewarx. Note: read the message and see how obedient he is (not!) when he gets it. When given the message, you will also get a Humpa Card. Use the card at 7 and pull the lever at 8. You will be teleported to inside location 21 at New City. Show your orders and deliver the message. While you are here, exit into the New City street, then turn around and come back in. This is one of the doors you could not open before, but from now on you will be able to enter at will. And you can use the teleport device from now on to go back and forth between New City and Upkyr. Take note of the door at 22 with the combination lock. Use the teleporter to return to Ukpyr to report to the recruiter. Final UKPYR mission - 'Report to General Yamo'. Before you do, however, go back to the Supply Depot at 4 and sell off any excess inventory. Things are going to get exciting in a bit, and you'll need space. When you're ready, go to 9, find the general at 10 and report to him. After he has given you the Thermal Pineapple (critical for Nyctalinth) and the bombs have stopped falling, loot the city. Search at 11 to find a security code. Searching at 12 will show you a map emphasizing an island south of NEW CITY. Find chests at 13 and 14. Searching the star map on the wall at 15 will give you the starship coordinates the T'rang wanted - HORATHA Tracking S:48,9 D:34,82,+17 Using the WizardEye spell at the Firing Range and Supply Depot will show you there are areas beyond the locked doors. They can't be picked, but they CAN be forced, tho it takes tremendous strength. Don't bother. No goodies in either place. If you explored the area in NEW CITY where you delivered the message, you found a door at 22 with numbered buttons. Wonder if that security code you just found would work? Use the teleporter back to NEW CITY and try. Yep, it does. (2723539). Behind the door find the Comm-Link device. (Critical for the Forbidden Area) NEW CITY (3) While you are here, you can sell off your excess inventory, and you can drop/stash some items you no longer need - the Pipe/Pastille, the IUF orders you got in UPKYR, the IUF badge, YAMO's dispatch and the Moonstone . Off again to more adventure! Next we go to NYCTALINTH, with a stop on the way. GATE TO RATTKIN RUINS Out the east gate - Follow the road thru D-5, north thru D-4, D- 3, C-3, D-3 again and C-2 to location 1 on C-1 - at the T- intersection where the road enters C-1. Leave the road at 2, go north and a little west toward 3. As you approach, there will be a series of battles. When they are done, use the Bonsai at 3. When asked who craves a boon, give the name of your party leader. There's a chest at 4. Return to location 1 on the road and follow the road west thru B/C-0 and on to the entrance to NYCTALINTH at 1 on B-1. NYCTALINTH This area is mapped on NYCT-N and NYCT-S. Go to the Landing Port at 5 and get the T'rang Port Book at 6. Enter the Observation Control Tower at 2. Learn a Computer Access Code at 3 and find the TX-Coder at 4. (All critical for later.) Enter the High Chamber at 8 and talk to H'Jenn-Ra T'rang at 9. Pull the lever at 10 to teleport to 29 in the T'rang house in New City. Meet Shritis T'rang at 30. Whether you accept or decline the mission he wants to give you seems to make no difference. He will leave. Find a chest at 31 and get a Control Card. (Critical) As with the Umpani quarters, exit to the street and re-entry will free up the door so you can use it (and this teleporter) anytime. Pull the lever at 29 and return to Nyctalinth. Report back to H'Jenn-Ra. and get a new mission to acquire the ?BOAT? map for him/her. Make a careful note of the spear code. After this interview is over, be prepared for some tough battles. Get 1 Finger Rod at 11 and 2 more at 7. (Notice that tho they seem to be the same, they can't be merged, so they must be different.) Go to the Tactical Depot at 13. Use a Finger Rod to unlock the door at 14. (If one doesn't work, try another.) Nothing there but a battle. Use a Finger rod on the door at 15, and after a battle at 16, get a weapon. Search at 17 to learn that it emits a mysterious ray. Now go to the LiveStock Breeding Grounds and use the last Finger Rod at 18. At 19, at what appears to be a solid wall, meet a 'familiar figure' (Murkatos' Ghost - remember - he sent you here) who says 'follow me' - and you can simply walk through the wall. Note - you can (and will) later walk thru again, in the same direction, but it's a one way trip. You cannot exit this way. At 20, find a chest containing a 'long-stemmed spade'. While exploring the graveyard, STAY OUT of location 36. Or, if you would like to see what happens there, SAVE, then enter. You NEED the object the fast-moving banshee stole - and having lost it, there's nothing to do but restore. At 21, find the grave of Notera Formi. First cast levitate, then dig. You will drop into the south end of the Nyctalinth Dungeon at 21. (The NYCT-DUN map shows a little bit of the south end offset.) NYCTALINTH DUNGEON Be prepared for LOTS of poisoning, tho fortunately when you pass thru each trap the first time, it exhausts itself and you can go thru again safely. There are two main tasks and one smaller (tho no less important) Least travel goes like this: Clear out the chest at 22. Find a ladder at 24 and go up to Nyctalinth proper at 24. Find the chest at 25. Find the statue at 26. Search. Dig to get the little green statue with the funny name. Read the name backwards. 'Time Bandit' - Hmm - might help outwit that quick little guy back in the graveyard. Press the button at 27 to open a door. Back down the ladder to the dungeon at 24, and find some goodies at 23. Now for the real battle. At 28 see some eggs. SAVE. Cast the Fire Shield spell if you have it, then use the Thermal Pineapple. If you burn up, restore and try again. Find another ladder up into the city at 29. Just before you round the corner to 30, rest, save and get ready to fight. At 30, you are in H'Jenn-Ra's chamber. Kill him/her to get one or more maps. This time, I got the ?FOOLS? map and the ?DRAGON? map. As I mentioned before, some maps are in fixed locations, others are random. For example, my first time thru, I got the ?FOOLS? map by killing Ratsputin. (?FOOLS? map has no use, tho one of the characters you meet on the road and trade with may buy it, but probably not.) Buttons at 31 and 32 will open secret doors. Go thru 32 to get to a down ladder at 12. At 33, 34 and 35 you will find three seemingly dead Savants. Use the Mysterious Ray Gun on each in turn. (Don't equip it - just use it.) From one of the three, after re-killing him, you will get another Computer Access Code. Leave the vats alone. Back up the ladder at 12, find your way back to 18 and reenter the graveyard. Enter the cubicle at 37 and use the little green statue to get the Crux of Crossing. This is what you need to get through the energy field at 38. Be sure you have the Remove Curse spell. The Crux is cursed, but must be equipped for it to be effective. While some cursed items are good, this one is not. Having equipped the Crux, go thru 38 and find the tomb of Vilet Kanebe at 39. Enter and go down the ladder at 40. Find a chest at 41. Murkatos' Ghost said that you would find 'a part of what you seek' here. In this case it is the ?SERPENT? map. Retrace your steps and when outside the energy field, remove the curse and uneqip the Crux. We've done all that needs doing except to get out of here and back on the road. You can't get out at 19, so it's back to the dungeon. At 21, again cast levitate, click on the hole to drop into the dungeon and find your way out. I preferred 24 to 29, but it doesn't matter. I'll see you at the NYCTALINTH exit at 1, from where we will head south to DIONYSCEUS En route, at or near location 1 on B-2 you should come across a battle. JAN'ETTE the Helazoid is being beaten on by a gang of T'rang. You will be asked if you want to help her - and you do. When you have won, and set her free, she will give you a token of her appreciation. Much later, when you follow her instructions and give it to the Helazoid Queen, you will gain a personal skill. DANE TOWER (Maps DANE-12, DANE34 and DANE-56 Find a ladder at 1 on map A-4. There are six levels here - one below ground and five above (tho you really can't tell the difference). I did a semi-permanent save just before entering each level (DANE1, DANE2, etc) so that if something went wrong, I could restart at the beginning of a level, and not have to restart the whole tower. So - down the ladder to DANE LEVEL 1 From the ladder at 1, find the trading post at 2. Buy 2 packs (3 each - total 6) of Jonga Powder. Talk and join the fellowship. Dues - 100 gold. Press the button at 3 to open a secret door. Use the Jonga Powder at 4. (This protects against a poison gas trap at 5.) Find a chest at 6, defeat the Spirit of the Dane and get Ashes of DIAM (critical). Get a Golden Idol from the chest. Place the idol on the altar at 7 to open a door at 8. Go thru, pay a fee of 250 gold and find the stairs at 9 to go up to level 2. DANE LEVEL 2 From the top of the stairs at 1, find an ad for BELCAZOR's Magik shop at 2. Use Jonga Powder at 3. Across the hall you enter a room with a bunch of open holes in the floor. DON'T MOVE YET!. When you do move about, stepping on certain squares will cause various holes to open and close. If you step in a hole, you drop down, into the matching square on level 1. (The Jonga Powder on this level acts like a levitate spell, protecting you from harm.) The object right now is to get to C. I think there may be some randomness right after B - note the repeat of the 4-7-4-5 sequence - but what worked for me was this routine. A - 4 - 5 - B - 4 - 7 - 4 - 5 - 4 - 7 - 4 - 5 - 8 - 5 - 6 - 5 - 9 and through to C. At 10 is BELCANZOR's Emporium. (Per the ad, he's here only in the daytime.) Press the button on the south wall at 11 to open a secret door; press another on the west wall at 12 and find a Golden Idol at 13. Use the idol at 14 to open the grate at 15. At 16, pay your fee of 500 gold and find the stair to the next level at 17. DANE LEVEL 3 From the top of the stair at 1, follow the passage until you come to a black 'door'. From here on, this level is mostly dark. Find the urn at 2 and use Jonga Powder. Protects against a 'purple haze' which would otherwise clobber you here and there. A fountain at 3 will restore stamina. Go to 4 and be teleported to 5. At 6 you will find out you don't know 'the word' and be abandoned but you will find the Key of the Beast. Go thru the door at 7 (as far as you can) and search at 8 to find a Golden Idol. Exit from 8 to the west. Find a grate at 9 - the 'Lair of the Beast' and use the Beast key. Enter and defeat the beast. With his dying breath he says 'MOO'. Now you know the word. Go back through the routine at 4 and 5. When you get to 6 again you will be asked if you wish to meditate on the word. You do. One or more team members will probably fall asleep. Those who do not will get the Mind Control skill. All should have it, so step back to 5 when the sleepers awake. Step forward to 6 and do it again, until everyone has the skill. You can do this as many times as you like. Each time someone who already has the skill stays awake, he/she gets another point in the skill, which protects against some spells and enables you to walk through the Orchid Field (north of NEW CITY) without falling asleep. When you are ready, go thru the door at 10, and walk right thru the wall to 11. Take the idol to the altar at 12 and use it, which will open the grate at 13. Enter, pay your fee of 1000 gold, and at 14 find the stairs to level 4. DANE LEVEL 4 This is a teleport maze. I have tried to make the coding as clear as possible by matching numbered jump-spots with lettered landing spots. That is, you jump from 1 to A, from 2 to B, 3 to C and so on. (Although actually location 1 is the start- point at the head of the stairs from level 3.) 'X' marks two places that will drop you back to 13 on level 3. The numbered spots are NOT all in the order we will use them. Clear as mud? - Let's go. From 1 go to 3 - jump to C. Westerly to 4 - jump to D. From 5 jump to E. West to 6 - jump to F. North to 7 - jump to G where you will find a chest containing the Key of Stone. Move a step to 4 - jump back to D. Find 9 and jump to I. Find 2 in the SE corner and jump to B. Open the grate at 31 with the Stone key, and open the chest to get (among other things) the Stone of Gates. From 20 jump to T. Get to a 4 in the SW corner and jump back again to D. From 13 jump into darkness (NW corner). Move 1 square north and see a vision of a black orb on a pedestal disappearing into the floor, then a girl making hand motions above it. You may not remember her from the game's introductory sequence, but she's Vi Domina and we'll meet her again. She's important. When she's gone, you'll get another Golden Idol. Move 1 square west and jump to P. Find the altar at 17 and use the idol to open the grate at 18. Go thru to 8 - jump to H. Head SW toward 10, meet the priest and pay your fee - 2500 Gold. From 10 jump to J and at 21 find the stair to level 5. DANE LEVEL 5 From the stair at 1, enter the Chamber of Deadly Coffers at 2. ALL of the chests labelled A thru K are trapped - they will clobber you as soon as you approach them from the side showing the lock. The damage is random. The same chest that will kill several members of the party on one occasion will slightly wound only one or two on another. Be SURE to save before you approach each chest so that you can quit, restore, and try again if the damage is too great. First, use Jonga Powder at 3 to protect against that purple haze. Get the key from C and use it on the grate at 4. Get the key from F and use it on the grate at 5. Get a Golden Idol at K. Get a key from G and use it on the grate at 6 to get to the altar. Use the idol there, which will open the grate at 7. Before you leave, however, there is another chest at 10. When you get to it, it will likely be empty, with an indication that someone got there before you. (Wasn't me! - all three times I tried it was already empty.) Randomness here. Twice, for me, the key from A opened the grate at 9. Once, it was the key from B. At any rate, if you want to try (and you should), get a key, find a button at 8 and press it to open the secret door to 9. If the key works, open the chest at 10 and hope for the best. If not, restore (you DID save, didn't you?) and try the other key. Chests at D, E, J and H have nothing in them but keys that don't fit anywhere. I has a few low-caliber items in it, but is usually pretty damaging. Don't spend a lot of time on it. When you are ready, go thru the door at 7, pay your fee (5000 this time!) and find the stair at 12 for DANE LEVEL 6. Actually, as you will see, Level 6 has two additional small levels associated with it. Level 6 has a couple of unique features, too. Be prepared to use the Map Kit OFTEN. The room at 2 spins you around and drops you in a different spot (tho fortunately in the same room) each time you enter it. And certain doors turn into walls (and walls into doors) as you move about. I have defined some, but not all, of these locations. From the top of the stair at 1, go thru 2 to 3 to find a chest with a Chrome Key. Step into the alcove at 4 to open a door at 5. Same at 6 to open a door at 7. Go to 8 to open the door at 9. Around the corner at 10, stop. The four grates on the left are going to spew fire as you pass. The fire shield spell may help, tho I didn't see that it helped much. Rest and save at 10. I found that I could get all the way to 12 and survive. Go into 11. Pull the lever on the west wall - JUST ONE TIME. (It re-sets itself and looks like it didn't work - but it did.) Rest and save again, because you're going to get scorched again when you come out and then be faced with a battle. Use the Chrome Key on the grate at 12, and after a battle find a chest at 13 containing, among other things, the Book of IMMORTALS (critical). Go to 14 to find a chest with another Golden Idol. (If you can't get to 14, you didn't handle the lever at 11 properly. Go back and try again.) Work your way through those opening/closing wall-doors to the northwest corner and find a button on the south wall of 15 to open the door to the altar. Use the Idol at 15 which opens the door at 16. Enter and pay your 10,000 fee. But you're not done yet. MAGNA DANE We've been hearing about this guy - now it's time to meet him. Step in at 17 to open a secret door at 18 and reveal a chest containing the Key of Ascension. Use it at 19 and be teleported to 20 on level 8. Don't pull the lever. Go down the stair at 21 to level 7 and down again at 22 to the northeast corner of level 6. Talk to (actually, listen to) the Magna Dane at 23. He will tell you how to summon the DEMONSPAWN and will tell you of the great reward that is yours when you bring him the Horn of Cornu. (These are the same instructions you can read in the Book of the Immortals.) Go back up the stairs to 24 on level 8. SAVE and then pull the lever. You will be transported to the edge of the hole at 25. Cast levitate, then follow the instructions to summon the Demon. Use the Munk Innards. Use the Ashes of Diam. Use the Stone of Gates. When the battle starts, use the Book of the Immortals. When the battle is won, click on the hole to drop down to 26 on level 7. Search to get the Cornu. Learn that the Magna Dane is a double crossing so-and-so who isn't about to fulfill his promises. Follow the passage to 27 and drop back to level 6 at 28. (No fire from the grates this time.) One more trip thru level 6 to 20 and back to level 8. Down the stairs again (21, 22) and before you round the corner to confront Magna Dane for the last time, set up all your best defenses and SAVE. Gonna be a heckuva battle (probably - random enough that you can never tell.) Meet the Dane and his gang at 23 and flail away. When you are victorious, search the Dane's body to get the Ring of Demons. Use it on the grate at 23 to enter his lair. Press the button at 29 to open a secret door and use the Cornu at 30 to get to the chest. The chest contains the Coil of Serpents (critical for later) and a Jewelled Cushion which can be sold. On the east wall at 31 is a restorative fountain. (Be careful - the one next to it on the left is poison.) Somewhere during this episode you should have gotten the ?CRYSTAL? map. Up the stairs (22, 21) to 20. NOW pull the lever and drop back to 32 on level 6. We are finished with the Dane Tower. You CAN retrace your way back down all those stairs and through the various mazes, but the easy way out is to go to the EGRESS at 33 for the express transport down to the lobby with the exit ladder on level 1. You can sell off your excess inventory here, or at NEW CITY, which is our next stop. Following map A-4, turn east at the intersection, then east and south. On the way, we'll pass thru the Orchid Field (Mind Control protects here.) And should see a 'great gray whale' sail thru the sky overhead. Not sure what that's all about - may be a reference to one of the space ships. NEW CITY (4) Time to find out about Vi Domina. Enter the Forbidden Zone at 17, use the control card at 18 and find a computer terminal at 19. Check the two parchments with computer codes that you acquired in Nyctalinth. Use the Comm-Link Device on the computer. When it asks for SERVER, give it 023@41A2; and for HOST say BLACK SHIP COMMAND. Ask for PERSONNEL FILES, and then for VI DOMINA. Get her data and note particularly the reference to 'Pz'. Maybe Phoonzang? She will shortly appear, but the Dark Savant will toss her in the Security Cell. Notice that the door at 20 has flashing lights, and thru the adjacent window you can see Vi on the floor. Back to the computer - use the Comm-Link Device again, and this time use the other code - SERVER 018@67C1 and HOST - Central Security Access. Deactivate the Security Cell. The lights on the door at 20 will have gone out and you can enter. When Vi comes to, she rambles on about finding the Astral Dominae, 'located on a small island beneath a morgue' and about 'making a deal' with the Dark Savant. She will give you an item - Vitalia's Device - with which to call her when you find the globe. You can now drop/stash the Comm-Link Device and the parchments with the codes. (Keep the Control Card.) The Cable Trolly is no longer needed. (If you want to cross the river again, you can now swim it.) The Cornu of Demonspawn, the Book of Immortals and the Ring of Demons can be kept or dropped as you choose. They have some utility as weapons, but have no further Critical use. (DON'T equip the ring, though - it will kill you.) Go to the Bank at 23, break into the vault at 24 and search to find a Copper Penny. Take the Penny to the Curio Museum at 25 and use it to enter. Be sure you have the Cure Disease spell. At 26 try to take the Wand Majestik, but instead find a Rebus Egge - and get diseased. Cure the disease. (If you don't have the spell, Father Rulae at the Abbey (13) will cure you, but he'll want ALL your gold!) If you don't have a Holy Water potion, visit Father Rulae and buy one. Go to the Library at 27. Inside, take the red book (Book of Fables) and at 28 meet Professor Wunderland, who will tell you a long story. Ask him about ARCHIVES, and he'll give you a Key of the Old City. When you are ready, leave NEW CITY by either gate - the east gate to go north past the road to Munkharama or the west gate to go north past Nyctalinth then east. You can also go to the T'rang house here in NEW CITY and use the ANTHRACAX to teleport to Nyctalinth. I'll meet you at the 'T' intersection at location 1 on map C-1 and we'll head off for the RATTKIN RUINS Follow the road a little east then north and east again into map D-1. (If you're cutting and pasting the maps, note that D-1 is offset 5 squares to the north.) Follow the road to its end, then work your way eastward thru the forest to location 1 on D-1, where you will find the 'smiling tree'. As soon as you approach the tree you will be picked up and tossed over the wall into a second story apartment of the RATTKIN RUINS (at location X on map RATKIN-1. This area is covered by three maps - RATKIN-1, -2 and -3. -1 covers the upper and lower levels of the structures. -2 is the western outdoor area and -3 is the eastern forest. A note here - If you step away from X and then back onto it, the tree will pick you up again and redeposit you on the outside. We will, however, use a different exit. The structured area is a ladder-maze sort of like the early part of Land Of Dreams. Ladders are numbered 1 thru 10, same on the top and bottom ends. You should be able to handle it from here. There are chests at A, B and C. If your lockpick skill is not that great, be sure to get the Brass Key from B before going after C. At 16, near the top of ladder 4, is Bertie's Weapon shop. Whatever else you do, buy a Featherweight Potion. After exploring the interior, EXCEPT 15, find your way to 17 at the southeast corner of level 1. In this vicinity you should meet Blienmeis. Go ahead and make a charitable donation (only 20 Gold). This guy we do NOT want to irritate - not yet, anyway. Talk (trade if you like). Ask about rumors. Follow up on, or ask directly about RAKUZA, FUNHOUSE, and REFLEXTION. You may or may not get some good answers. Now go to 15, around the corner from the top of ladder 9. You will be told to put your hands through the window to prove you are a genuine Thief! Do so, but they will find you not qualified, and you will be sent away. They said you were so dumb you couldn't steal from a blind man. Try to prove them wrong. Go back to 17 and meet Blienmeis again - attempt to steal from him. You will fumble, but you should get a ring. Equip it and you will be allowed into the Thieve's Guild. Lo and behold - old Blienmeis is the proprietor. Talk to him again about RAKUZA, FUNHOUSE, and REFLEXTION. At this point, he should offer you the Ring of Reflextion (for 12000!) and should offer you a Nose (only 1000). You MUST have the Nose (shows in your inventory as a red rubber ball). I bought the Ring - had plenty of gold - it gives one member the Reflextion skill. But I never found that it did much good. (Check the Manual.) One more item on Blienmeis - If you have a fairy ninja, (or you just want the gold you can get for it) he has a Cane of Corpus. You have to kill him to get it, but he's very fast. Usually manages to run away and avoid the battle. If not (blind or no) he's supposed to be a tough opponent. I never managed to get him, but I understand some players have done. Now go ahead and explore the rest of the outdoors for fun, adventure, XP and Gold, using maps RATKIN 2 and 3. When you're ready, I'll meet you at location 20, at the door of the FUNHOUSE Use the Red Rubber Ball on the door to gain entrance. Explore, but leave the door at 23 for last. Find a chest at 21 containing a 'bo' (which will assay to become a wooden dowel - critical). This chest sometimes also contains a LODESTONE. It has no use and you can't sell it - all it does is weigh you down. Dump it! At 22 find a 200-pound iron pyramid - also critical. You may need to do some inventory rearrangement in order to carry it, but carry it you must. Thru the door at 23 find a ladder at 1 and go down. You are at 1 on Funhouse level -1. There are four levels, and I have numbered the ladders, stairs etc., identically on the top and bottom ends (1 through 16). Locations 20 and up are places to visit. You will need all of the maps at the same time, because there are many trips to make from level to level. There are four maps - FUN -1, -2, FUN -12 (some small areas that wouldn't fit on -1 and -2) and FUN -34 (combined). (Good practice for a later episode with 50-some up-n-downs on EIGHT levels!) Go down 2 to level -3. At 5/5 find a teeter-board. Step on the right-hand end and a chain will descend thru the ceiling over the left end. Use the pyramid to attach it to the chain. Take the stair at 3 to level -2. Find a button at 20 to open a secret door and find a spool handle at 21. Use the spool handle at 22 to wind the chain up. Go up ladder 4 and around the corner at 23 find a Tarnished Key. Down 4, down 3 and use the key at 24 to find a Rubber Band. Take that back up 3 and 4 - use it at 25 next to a grate which will not ever open. Back down 4 and 3 to the teeter- board. DON'T step on it yet!. Use the Featherweight potion, and THEN step on the right-hand end of the board. Clever! Before we take on the major puzzle of the Funhouse - the Water Slide - we may as well handle a small side matter. Let's meet with BARLONE'. Take the stair at 9 down, and go to the grate at 26 to meet the Rakuza and Barlone'. He will offer a reward if you perform a task for him. Agree. After he tosses you out, back off to the foot of the stair and (in 'review mode') use the TX-CODER on the T'RANG PORTBOOK. You will learn of the next spaceship arrival that Barlone' wants. Go back to 26 and tell him '088:53'. He will tell you that a member of his family has placed a map in the Old City Archives, and will tell you that he may have another deal for you later. And out you go again. Your choice here. If you go back to the foot of the stair and come in again, he will tell you that he and his party are leaving, and that for the small sum of 40,000 Gold you can have all the treasure he's leaving behind. The treasure is random, so I don't know what you might get. Suggestion: Save your ongoing game here, then do a save under a 'temporary' name. Pay the money (assuming you've got it), and after he leaves, search at 27 to pull the sconce and open the grate at 28. Get the treasure (4 chests) and decide what you want to keep. There is a large number of items and your inventory will be quite full. Go back up at 9 and down at 6, around the corner and up at 8. Pull the lever at 29 to open the grate at 30. Now you can take the ladder up at 1 and go off to Bertie's shop and sell off the residue. If you think you got a good deal, come back to the Funhouse and continue. If not, restore, bypass the treasure and continue from where you left off. Of course, you could also restore and do the deal a second time, hoping for a better selection. On one time thru, I liked some of the treasure and kept it. Testing for you on a different trip, I took the treasure, kept it intact and sold it all. Result was that I lost 6000 gold in the deal. Not that it matters much - at this point I had around 200,000 and there wasn't much that I wanted to buy. As I said, your choice. If you don't need to go back to Bertie's, you don't need to open the grate at 30. And it can always be done later. Whichever/whatever, meet me on level -1 at the top of ladder 6. Go to the top of the 'troughs' at T, cast levitate and jump in. You will bounce off a grate on level -2 and land at T on level -3. Find a painted ball at 31. Pull the lever at 32 to open the adjacent grate. Take the ladder at 7 down to level -4. Swim around the corner from 53 to 54 and find a Bar and Rope at 55. Retrace your way back to 7. Up 7 and up 6 to level -1. Now find your way to ladder 11. Take it down and follow the passage, but stop at 33. SAVE, then go on until you see a brightly painted target. Use (throw) the ball. You may or may not hit the target, partly depending on the throwing skill of the thrower. If you miss, and had not saved, it would mean a trip back to 31 to get the ball to bring it back here and try again. With the save in place, you can restore to try again - as many times as need be until you hit. There's some randomness here, too. My best thrower has missed and my worst has hit! When you DO hit you will open the grate that you bounced off when you went down the troughs. Work your way back up 11 and around again to the troughs at T. Jump in again and wind up at T on level -2 (now that the grate is open). Go to 34 and use the Bar & Rope on the hole. Now to set the switches on the water slide. (Yep - this ain't called the 'funhouse' for nothin'!) Start by going all the way around to 36, where you'll find a view of the water and a lever on the left. A NOTE here: I'm not sure which way this lever should be set. There are FIVE of them (we'll soon see the rest) and the only thing that's sure is that all the left-hand ones should be the same, and all on the right-hand (as you face the water) should be the opposite. What worked for me when I tested for you was UP on the left and DOWN on the right. When you go down the slide you should catch the rope you just hung. If you wind up in the pool on level -4, just come back to this point and reverse everything. So - set this lever UP. At 13 go up, down at 14 to find a lever on the right at 37. DOWN. Up 14, down 13 and at 38 is a lever on the right. DOWN. Go down at 12, find a lever on the left at 39 - UP, and a lever on the right at 40 - DOWN. OK - let's test it. Up at 12, and around on level -2 to BB. ride the belt up to B on level -1 and go around the corner to S - the top of the slide. Jump in and enjoy the ride. If you catch the rope, fine. (If not, go back and reverse the levers.) Follow the passage till you come to a strange device at 43. Move forward, and at 41 you should get a black ball. Go back around to the hole in the water and jump in. You will land in the pool on level -4. Climb out and take 7 to level -3. Ride the belt at B up to level -1. Go all the way around to 47 and use the black ball to put it into the tube. Come back and go down the ladder at 10. Use that wooden dowel you've been carrying all day on the hole in the wall at 35. Now to S, and another trip down the water slide. Grab the rope again on your way by, swing out and you're ready to go back around the corner to 43. THIS time when you step on the platform, you'll be glad the dowel is there. Up-up and awaaayy - to 44 on level -2. Around the corner and up on 15 - down on 16 and at 45 find a rack of spears. Do you remember what H'Jenn-Ra T'rang told you? First is not before the Third nor the Second, but first after the Sixth. It is the Fifth that is first and the Fourth after the Third which is second - then The Way is revealed. Press the buttons as follows: 534261 - the grate will open and you can get the ?BOAT? map from the chest at 46. Up 16, pull the lever at 47 to open the grate at 48 and up the ladder at 49 to a field. You now stand at location 1 on map F-2. Work your way south to 1 on F-3, then west into E-3 and back east to 2 on F-3. This is the entrance to the GIANT CAVE This is a fairly small and simple cave. The red flower is at 2. Find and pull a lever at 3 to open the grate to SPOT's lair. Defeat him and find the Necromantic Helm at 4 (Critical). There is a chest at 5 containing some pretty good armor and weapons, but it's a long 7-square swim from the nearest point at 6. You will probably need at least 24 Heavy Stamina potions to make it out and back. WITCH QUEST Find your way back to location 1 of map F-3. Get a vine at 3. (When you try to climb it, it will fall into your hands.) Find two more vines at 4 and another at 5. These are heavy - watch out for an overweight condition. Find the purple flower at 6. Take the vines to 7, merge them and use them. Climb down to 8. (SAVE first, of course.) Work your way to 1 on F-4. (Where you heard the crow calling, remember?) This next exercise gets a little tricky. Read the Book of Fables to learn about the witches. It says that they gather 'just before the witching hour'. But they won't gather if you are there. so go just to the west, at 4, and with a combination of 'resting' and pacing back and forth to use up some time, wait until the sky turns full black. Then equip the Necromantic Helm, and re-enter the chilly glade. If your timing is right, you will see a vision, and by moving to the squares north, south, east and west of 1, you will meet the companions of the four wicked witches, and will learn the names of the witches. At 1, the unfortunate good witch dances and says 'Help Me'. If this sequence of events doesn't happen, the time was wrong. Try again. Go back to the steep cliff at 8 on F-3, climb to 7 and go to 9 for the entrance to the WITCH CAVE The map of this area is in two parts - WITCH-N and -S. From the entrance at 1, go to 2 and find a mirror to meet the bad witch of the South. Her name is 'Xandasa'. Pay the 1000 Gold, fight the battle and get the gold Teeth. At 3 is 'Barbana' of the east, at 4 is 'Carmela' of the West and at 5 is 'Naralda' of the north. Having acquired all four of the facial features see the image of the good witch at 6. Turn to 7 as she instructs and use the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. She will give you the ELYSIAD 'for the final battle'. I never used it. By the time I got to the end-game I had a very powerful team and was fighting in 'easy' mode to take no chances. I understand that at that time, equipping the Elysiad will automatically resurrect any members who have been killed (assuming SOMEbody survived, and you won the battle) and gives them XP as though they had survived. I always restored and re-fought anytime anybody got killed, so I had no experience with that. She will also open a secret door so that you can get to a chest at 8, containing the ?SPHINX? map. There is also a chest with some goodies at 9. After leaving the Witch Cave, go back down the vine at 7/8 on map F-4 and go to location 2 on F-4 to enter the SPHYNX (Whirlpool) CAVE Read the ?Sphynx? Map to learn that the Rebus Egge needs to be brought into contact with salt. From the entrance at 1, go to 2 and swim to 3. Pull the lever which will open a secret door at 4 so you can get to 5. Use the Egge there and the Sphynx will provide a bridge to 6. Search 6 to get the Wand Majestik (Critical). (Don't try to swim in the 'W'-marked water area - you'll drown in the whirlpool.) When he gave you the 5-Flower quest, Xen Xheng said to return to him when you had collected them all. After leaving the Sphynx Cave, find your way south through UKPYR to MUNKHARAMA. Go to 15 at the school (Land of Dreams) and find a note left for you by Xheng. Follow the instructions. Merge the red and blue flowers. Merge the yellow and purple flowers. Merge the two combinations to get 'Orchid Ambrosia'. OK so far. Now you are to merge that whole thing with a 'solution' of the white flower. Takes liquid to make a solution, so merge the white flower with the Holy Water you've been carrying around to get 'Dahlia Water'. Now merge THAT with the Ambrosia to get a SNAKESPEED Potion, which will give that skill to one member. He also said to report to Father Rulae the finding of the Holy Sacrament. On to NEW CITY. (5) When you greet the good Father, simply say 'Holy Sacrament' and after he leaves, you can enter the door behind him and go down the ladder at 32 to find a healing fountain at 33 and a chest at 34. It has been said that this chest should contain the important ?LEGEND? map - but it never does. From now on, any time you want to use the fountain, say 'Holy Sacrament' to Father Rulae, the door to the ladder will be opened and the fountain will be available. You have no further use for the following items, so you can drop/stash them if you choose - Book of Fables, TXCoder, T'rang Port Book, Spool Handle and the Note fron Xen Xheng. Barlone' said that the ?LEGEND? map was in the OLD CITY. Well, let's look. ... NEXT issue - o -