Pool of Radiance
               Ruins of Myth Drannor - part 2
           Hints and Tips and Partial Walkthrough

                       by Vic Horsley

Continued from Issue 78

This is the Great Hall area, it's a sealed off section and the
last part of this dungeon.  Do not go directly north for now,
rather press to the west, there are two rooms here that contain
Orcs.  Kill them [this will stop them attacking your rear when you
do go for the main fight], there is a secret door at the end that
leads to a yard, the coffins each contain one undead, in the far
wall is another secret door, the chest has the Pale Blue Key that
will open the door to the room at the eastern side of this level.
At this stage do not wander off too far to the northwest as it
will drag you into the final conflict, instead turn back east and
go round the hall in an anti clockwise fashion.  One of the rooms
here contains a chest that holds "Deathbane", this needs to be
returned to the Tree but the chest cannot be opened yet so you
will need to come back a little later. Further round is another
room with sealed double doors, the key is just Northwest of the
room so retrieve it, open the door, deal with the undead and click
on the coffins.  Now go and challenge the three Orc wizards in the
main room to the north, they are still quite hard at this stage
but not unbeatable as at first. Attack one at a time and open the
chests, clean up, retrieve Deathbane and return to the surface.
Sell all your unwanted gear and go to the tree to return the staff
and get any other news.

The first dungeon is complete except for a few odds and ends that
you can do later and don't forget Jarial in the stone, now on to
the next dungeon.

The Deep Halls

Go down one level but you are free to go to whichever level you so
choose. This one is the bottom one and there are two more above
the Main Halls, they all look alike except for the layout of the
buildings.  The best way to tackle these remaining dungeons is to
look at the map and try by looking across and up and down, to find
how far you are from the boundaries, then head for the nearest one
and work your way around this level. Gradually work into the
centre, it's not quite that easy as certain parts are blocked off
but you can go back and try the next turning, it does work so give
it a try.

At the beginning the only way to the Deep Halls is by the ladder
south of the Mines in the Main Halls, but other ways will be
accessible later in the game.

You are far to the East of this dungeon, keep close to the east
wall and head north, there are groups of undead roaming about down
here usually comprising of five or six but occasionally there are
more because two groups can come together. It can get very awkward
so be prepared, their strength is also greater than above and turn
will not work every time.  First stop is two rooms but they are
empty, go north to the double doors, click on them and move back
quickly as they are poisoned.  Smash the logs and move up a
little, the door to the east has a glyph but you know the password
so can enter, there are now a couple of empty rooms before you
come to a large area that contains a Golam. Do not attack him at
this stage as he is far too tough and will kill the whole party,
later you will have help to defeat him, mark the area on your map
and save, return to the outside.

Just west of the glyph door you will meet a group of Lizardmen
[you may meet them before going in to the Golam], I found the best
way to beat these was to get all the party to attack the same
lizard then move on to the next. Try starting with the ones who
use magic, they cannot use their magic so easily if you are close
to them.

The next door is poisoned so take the same precautions as before,
then into the next room west which has lizards, don't forget one
at a time, you will take damage but it's far better this way.

Move on through the derelict building, search all the barrels and
boxes and press on into a large hall, this has beds and tables all
over it and a large "fire well" in the middle, there is also
another band of lizardmen who you will have to take care of. For
the time being keep to the east of this room and move north, there
are two doors here, they need "Soot Coated Key" to open, mark and
save.

It is really essential that you rest often because some of these
fights are quite hard and you take a fair amount of damage.

Now move south through the hall and keeping close to that western
wall, you'll find another group of lizards and the reason for
keeping to the east early on, this prevented them joining the
battle which would have been really tough.

Do not go straight down here but keep pushing to the west and into
the next derelict building, it is advisable to stay within the
building and fight the lizards, if you go outside to the south you
will again drag in another lot of lizardmen. On the north wall is
a door [it's to the surface tree] and next to it, a chest holding
a ring, you will find it beneficial to keep all rings even if you
are not able to wear them, some get you through certain blocked
areas.  Now may be a good time to go to the surface tree, get
refreshed if needed and obtain any other news.

Back in the Deep Halls go south then follow the wall a little east
and drop down Southwest behind the wall, as you do this you will
see a room with a fire well below you, you need to get into this
room. Hug the wall as you move round to it, just below the door to
this room is a derelict building with five lizzardmen, all magic
users and very tough, don't rush into them.

Keeping close to the wall, leave the room and go Southwest, you
will come to a door that needs "Glyph of Water", mark this and
save, this is a dead end and you need to go back east a little way
and drop down south into the door, keep close to the wall when
doing this.

There's no one in this room, smash the bollards and wood beams and
use the ladder, it's to the "Lizardfolk Tunnel" you can explore
this if you wish, it is quite a small area but the main fight is
too strong for you at this point, you can come back here from
another area later, so just it mark and save.

Go east from the room, close to the dark wall, you will come to 5
large boulders. Leaving your party in the darkened area, get your
fighter to smash the boulders then run him back to them in the
shade, bless the party and have them attack the lizards to the
north. These are the ones you evaded [hopefully] on the way round,
you are at the back of the building now, so they have to come all
the way round to get at you, this enables you to get off some
shots before they reach you [both magic and weapon - i.e.  bows],
this damage is crucial in helping you to win this fight.  When
completed you will receive the "Soot Covered Key", save and head
back to the room which you marked for this key and open the door,
you may need to go to the tree to revive any of your party and now
would be the time to go, otherwise go up the ladder to the "Halls
of Light" [this is by way, the top dungeon].  Kill the lizards in
these two rooms and open the outer door, it again is possible to
carry on up here but we will go back down, so mark on your map
both up and down, return below and save.

Return to where you received the "Soot Covered Key" and then south
to where you prepared for this fight, go east along the wall and
come around the black square of the building, there is a magic
door in the wall here so go slowly clicking until it appears, once
inside there are three rooms but the fight is very tough, and best
left for now, if you do try it, get rid of the barrels and boxes
first.

From the magic door look at your map, you will see there is only a
small shaded part left at this location, so head just north and
clear the area, when completed return to the area that you first
entered the Deep Halls, it is directly east of where you now are,
then rest and save.

If you need to recuperate over the next few rooms you will need to
come back here to do so, so bear that in mind, from this room go
south still keeping quite close to the eastern wall, go into the
first derelict room and tackle the undead, these are reasonably
easy. Go south between the buildings and in through the first
door, kill the undead, I did say that turn undead does not always
work but use it anyway, sometimes it can save you. Go out the door
to west and turn north, the room in the corner is empty, so go
south and east, through the door where you can see four and a bit
coffins, follow through to the passage, go east and in through the
door with five coffins lined up down the middle of the room.

East across the passage to the room opposite, be careful here,
there are two wraiths and two undead and turn does not work so
well, when taken care of, go southwest to the door and through,
five undead. Turn seemed to work well here, tidy up the coffin and
Garras will speak to you, "Look for him at the Fountain of Stone",
mark this and save game.

Go through door and south to derelict building, more undead, clear
coffins in these rooms and save game. Head south to door, more
undead, there are so many around here you can quickly be over
powered if moving too far, so be warned, enter the room but the
double doors in here can only be opened from the other side, mark
and save.

If you look at your map here you will notice a shaded area to the
east that you can't seem to get into, don't worry about it for
now, it's reached from the Dwarven Ceremonial Stone in the Main
Halls and you will do that later.

From the room go north pass the blacked out building, go slow and
don't push too far to the west just yet. Ahead of you, you will
see more undead, try to draw them to you and dispatch in the usual
way, go into the derelict building where they came from.  Clear
the coffins and push west, now take on more undead who are feeding
when you reach them, had you not kept a straight line north at the
blacked out building these would have joined the other lot and you
would have been overpowered.

Make sure you are fit, save and place your cleric to the back of
the party, bless and open the next door, don't go in, let them
come to you, they will come through from the three rooms, use turn
undead often to freeze them and have your fighters slay them. When
the fight is over go inside and rest, now save the game [this is
very important here], clear the room and last of all click on the
coffin, take the ruby, which you later have to drop into a well to
release the wind [you do this by right clicking on wells, if you
have an item it will work], I found that three out of four times
the game crashed here, so be careful[it may be my set up of
course], restart if you have to, open all the doors and leave
open, it's not a bad idea to use this with all doors as it means
you will not miss any rooms.

Come out the same door you went in through, the south door, go
west along the bottom wall, don't go up, open the double doors in
next building, read inscription on coffin, go in the other room
via magic door. Pick up book then shield from chest and leave, go
west again along the bottom to the derelict building, kill the
four undead, smash all the bollards in rooms and come back down to
the bottom room, just below you is the prison area, which was
reached from the Main Halls.

Go out the door bottom west and into the one next to it and
southward, there is nothing much in these rooms, so just go
through to the other side and out the door. Follow the path round
to the Southwest along the border with the prison area, the next
two buildings should now be to your north, you having just half
circled one. A path runs between them with the doors either side
of that path, the two rooms at the bottom right have only barrels,
boxes and stones in them, clear these and save your game, the next
fight in the room to the left can be tough so this is a good place
to rest.

Now either go over the top of this building west and south to the
room with three doors, or better still go south from the fight and
west past the barrels to the double doors, leave your party back
from the doors and send in one to open them returning quickly.
These doors, like many others, are poisoned. Wait a few moments
then take your party through.

The room mentioned with three doors is just to your north but if
you open one of the doors a party of four Orcs attack from the
west and it's awkward, so after coming through the double doors
hug the south wall and move to the west, following the contours of
the wall. This will bring you to a sharp corner where you will
have to turn north, save, bless your party and move forward
slowly, the Orcs are just north and quite easy to challenge.

Go back to the room with the three doors, open all the doors,
smash boxes etc and go into the next room to the Northwest and do
the same, leave the door to the north closed in this room, it will
be opened later and helps as a guide as to where you are in the
dungeon [that area contains a large party of Orcs who are too
strong for you at present]. Come back south out of this room and
go west into the passage between two buildings, the area you can
see to the south is the sealed off rooms you visited from the Main
Halls.

Read the red sign stone, the double doors to the right lead to a
Well, otherwise this room is empty, this is where you should use
the ruby you obtained earlier, it will release the wind. Leave the
room, it would seem the best idea is to turn northwest here and go
on as before but again we have a party of Orcs, far too strong for
us at this time and with plenty of magic [these areas we are
leaving are on the far south Western side of the dungeon].  From
the Well and after marking the areas that you need to return to,
go back to the room with the three doors and on to the derelict
building to the north of it, the one with bollards and four
fountains, move up through the rooms, at the top are double doors
but you are unable to enter these because of a blockage by
boulders, mark this area.

Move to the east and go around the next building to the double
doors, there's another group of Orcs here but if you are prepared
it's not hard, before coming round the corner save and bless, try
keeping your magic users to the rear and on the corner. Move your
fighters forward and engage the enemy, if you want to use your
cleric as a fighter, you can't do better than arming with the +3
or +4 heavy clubs, after the fight open the doors and rest in the
room.

There is nothing in this room but if you go to the far wall and
look over you will see a swirling blue mass, this is a teleporter
that you will be able to use later in the game, for now, move on
northeast around the next building and in through the door with
the glyph marking. On the far side of this room is another set of
doors, they are poisoned, mark this area on your map but don't go
through at this time, [it's the Ceremonial Court and Orcs
barracks, there are far too many for you to contend with right
now].

Behind the double doors to the north of this room against the
black background is a stairway to the surface tree, now if you
need to go back it's not far [your points will be topped up if you
go now], don't forget to mark this.

From the stairway move east to the next door, the Orcs in here are
fighting a couple of undead, which helps, keep your party outside
the room and use ranged weapons for the first round and as they
come to you pick them off one at a time, when over go inside and
close the chest, open it again and receive Boots Vs undead.

Leave the room, go east, clear the two derelict buildings [you may
already have don't the far one, depending on how far you wandered
west near the beginning], from the first building, save bless and
go into the small square to the north.

This can be a little tricky as there are giant scorpions about and
they can kill rather quickly, head swiftly to the room on the
righthand wall [to the east of you], get just inside the door and
baring entry to the scorpions, manoeuvre around to have your
fighters at the door entrance with their best weapons. Keep your
cleric behind them to replenish their health if need be, also keep
your sorcerer well to the rear and using magic missile, if you
don't manage this I can only say good luck and try again.

It is more than likely that you will not be able to complete this
[I did but after very many tries], it may be better to move on to
one of the other levels if this happens, when you come back you
will be that much stronger and it will be relatively easy.

When the battle is won, open all the chests in the room, save and
recover your health, one of the chests contains Ogre gauntlets
[you may like to try grabbing them early in the battle], head
north, look around and come south and east, then north through the
rooms to the first turning to your left [west].

In this road or passage going west, is a blacked out area to your
south and just to your north a door which needs "Glyph of Water",
mark this on your map and move on west but be sharp as another
band of Orcs are approaching from the west.

Keep your magic user back by the magic door and move the rest
forward, don't forget the answer is to strike and run a little way
and try concentrating on just one or two of the enemy, this way
you have a greater chance of winning.

If you need to recover after this, you are only a short distance
west of the first room you entered, where you can sleep safely;
it's in a straight line east.  Move on again west, the next doors
are trapped, have your Rogue right click and search then right
click and disarm, go in to "The Pyre of Silence", it needs the
Iron Bound Tome, mark on your map and save.

Go out the door and round this building to the northwest but first
you have to fight more Orcs, they are in and around the derelict
building to the west, it's stretching a bit but leave all your
party in the doorway of the Pyre room then walk your strongest
fighter to the top room of the derelict building, try to get him
[her] into the centre of the barrels [he's safer there], he will
start the fight off, move your second strongest a few steps along
the wall and your magic users just outside the door so they have a
view to what's going on. If you have it right only one or two Orcs
will attack the main party at the same time allowing you to pick
them off.  When you have won this battle go through the derelict
building as far north as it goes, there is a door here, go in and
tidy up the bones in the Coffin to hear Elena speak, she will meet
you again at "The Fountain of Stone", mark this and leave, go
south working your way through the derelict building and smashing
all the boxes and barrels.

At the lowest point of the derelict building and to the north of
it is a door, this goes through to the north of the dungeon, it's
the place where we left the northern area and travelled south
because the fight was to tough, from this side it's a little
easier, bless your party, place your two strongest fighters either
side of the door, keep your magic users back and apart, now open
the door, one or two of the Orcs will come to the door but can't
get out, there are magic user's among the Orcs so be prepared, use
your rearguard to support your front two by using missiles and
bane/health, this fight can be quite long but persevere, you now
have a way through.

Go west, again you have to face Orcs but there is a way of
avoiding this if you would like to leave it for now. If when
coming out of the previous building, you keep close to the wall to
the south and move along a little to the west, to where the wall
is blacked out and stop, look south. You can just see a path going
off to the south, if you click into this, your party will run for
there and bypass the enemy.

Go down the passage between the rooms, search but there is nothing
here, press on through the gate into a triangle, there is a Well
here, walk around it until you receive a message telling you to
follow the other adventurers who have gone up a ladder to the
north.

Now go through the other gate to the west, there are three rooms
here, nothing in them except boxes, barrels and furniture, there's
only one more door here to the north-west, behind this are four
Orcs who are joined later by another two coming through the back
door, making a total of six in all but they pose no real problem
for you, go out the back door and into the courtyard, in the far
right corner is one door, inside are two Soldier Skeletons and
three wraiths. Do not open the chest until you have disposed of
these because the chest triggers the release of another three
wraiths, at end of fight you receive Large club, nothing more here
so go back to the last Well and go south, there's another passage
between two buildings, before going down it, save and bless.

There is a fight going on in the passage between a large group of
Orcs and some undead, they will still attack you if given the
chance but less so than normally. Keep your magic users to the
rear and use your fighters to attack the nearest Orc, don't worry
too much about the undead they are less of a threat, move slowly
down the line taking out one or possibly two at a time, your rear
warriors should be using most of their time to fire [or shoot] at
the enemy furthest down the line. This will reduce the strikes you
have to make when getting to them, it's a really long fight so
take your time and watch your health, open the doors, get the
amulet and move south. You could have approached this fight from
the southern side, at the room where I told you to leave the door
closed until later, but if you did come through there you will now
know that it wasn't possible to stay alive at the strength you
were. Go round the corner and you are in that room.

From the room, you now need to go to any of the places you marked
as tough or otherwise and clear these [or go to one of the other
levels and come back later].

Go south and into the passage between the buildings and by the
room where you placed the ruby into the Well, go west to the fight
with the band of Orcs who are mainly mages. As said before this is
a really tough encounter, so prepare before marching on, if you go
slowly up the passage you will leave the more serious Orcs at the
top, this will allow you to use Fireball on them and probably get
a few shots in before they attack you, when the fight is finally
done go north.

Pass through the gate to your left is this level's Teleporter,
leave it for now and circle around it until you find the next
group of Orcs. Slay them and then smash the door to the Teleporter
Room also smash the ice covering the level buttons, this done you
are now able to use this teleporter between the different levels
of the dungeon. Remember you can match up the colour of the
buttons with the colour of each level on your maps.

Leave the room and cross the courtyard to the east. The first gate
is a fixture and cannot be opened, so go north, next are double
doors with a Glyph. Go through these but keep close up against the
other doors you can see to your north, you have to go south, to
where Nottle is being held prisoner by a group of Mages and Orcs.
The magic here is very powerful and if you don't prepare properly
you will definitely all be killed, so stay up against that door,
cast bless and magic shield on as many as possible, then have your
magic user cast fireball on the central mage, this will weaken a
few of them and hopefully allow you to win the battle.

When the fight is finished speak to Nottle who will inform you
that a key to open his cell is held by a mage in the "Room of
Words" in a higher level [mark and save], go south to the chest
room, nothing here but a few points, no traps, the room behind
Nottle has the swirling teleporter but you are unable to get in
now, the double door in the north of this yard is sealed so come
out of this courtyard and go north to the door past the Glyph.
This single door is trapped so have your Rogue disarm it, it's
another chest room but as with the other, there's nothing here, go
through the north door to a small yard and one gate into three
rooms, only furniture in them, the stairway goes to "The Halls of
Stone".

This is now the way to go but you may wish to finish some of the
things that were not so easy earlier on, remember though that you
can do any of these tasks at any time and in any order.

Following are a few things that you may still have to undertake
but it is only as a reminder.

In the Northeast corner is "The Life Spring", it's where the Golam
is. When you arrive there Elena and Garras will be waiting at "The
Fountain of Stone" as promised, do not let any of your party get
too near to the Golam. You can use ranged weapons but will do very
little damage, better just to let the ghosts do the work for you,
it will still be necessary to take your turn but just move around.
When the Golam drops, the Life Spring becomes active, now you can
recover health from death by going to the four Wells in the Square
of the Main Halls, go up against the bottom left one and you will
be brought back to life.

The Ceremonial Halls next to the central exit to the surface Tree,
pass the glyph through the double doors and to the next doors, if
they are closed be careful, they are trapped, you are in a
courtyard, this is a really big fight with four separate groups
attacking you all at once. As you go through the doors and to your
right is the first group, they are standing around a Well , behind
them to the east is another group of four and directly behind the
first group but at a longer distance are two other groups of four,
these are stood in doorways, be slow in your approach to them, if
you just rush in you will stand no chance.

Approach the first group so you can only just see them, they will
attack you with bows, if possible use one "Fireball" on them and
then bows or missile, do the same with the other groups moving up
very slowly. After the fight search the rooms starting with the
one to the east where you can also rest, now go into the other two
rooms to the north, the first has two chests these are not trapped
[Amulet and a Shield], the second room has one chest also not
trapped. Go out into the yard, to the far left over the wall you
will see treasure, this is the area that you reach at a later
stage from another level, so leave, this part is now completed.
At a later stage you will have to come back here to do things like
placing the iron Tomes in the Pyre of Silence and opening the
doors that have Water Glyphs, so other small areas can be covered
then.

The Lizard Tunnel should cause no problem now if you wish to go
back to it. From this level you enter at the top of a long zig
zagging path the first door you come to is to the Tree, you will
encounter your first group of lizards close to this door, on to
the bottom smashing boxes on the way, at the bottom is a difficult
fight and then another door, this is the entrance from another
level but it's barred until later so return the way you came.

To be continued next issue









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