Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor - part 6

                       By Vic Horsley

Continued from last issue

Catacombs-Second Cellar:

As we travel lower the attacking parties get larger and more
aggressive. It is time to take stock of your situation. Try not to
carry too much equipment, go and sell everything that you can,
only keep a few scrolls [others will be picked up as you go
along]. Your Armour should be as light as possible and you will
pick up some that negates your weight problem, arm your fighters
with one sharp and keep one heavy blunt weapon each, sell the
rest, the magic users should carry one useful weapon only, their
magic should be their defence.

When coming to the end of a fight [no matter how hard and for how
long], do not imagine that it is the end, from now on you are
likely to be attacked by two or three parties within the same
battle. It leaves you very week and very vulnerable. So once again
I say, never enter a new area without being fully fit and having
saved the game.

To get anywhere on this level you need to do half circles around
the cellar, there are no short cuts through, as there were on
other levels. So the next building to you may need a trip to the
other side of the cellar then up or down and over.

The area to the far north west can only be reached on its first
attempt from the ladder in the far north west of the 'First
Cellar'.  It may be a good idea to start your search of this level
from there, but it is not the only way down.

There is a Spinning Spire on this level. It is useful for making
trips back to sell your gear, on the map it's at the second square
from the left and one frame down. Next to it and in the room to
the northeast is the ladder down to the Bottom level but as
explained above it's a trip around the cellar to get there [from
the spire you have to go south and east then north and west].

In the room to the immediate east of the Spire you will meet
'Kellan' and 'Bronwyn', offer to help them. Directly to the north
of this room but approached as above is a gate that leads to the
ladder, there is a very awkward fight to go through here. It means
three separate fights but if not careful they will all run in to
one and you will not survive. Don't go through the gate as a
party, leave all but one outside, as far from the gate as will
allow you to move the one player through it, he should go through
the gate open the door next to it and return to the party as soon
as possible after engaging the two inside the room, do not stray
into other areas. Outside the gate a party of the enemy will
appear, take them on, without moving through the gate, when over
find the nearest safe room which you last came through and
recover. Now back to the gate, in one movement click on your party
and move them straight from outside the gate to inside and to the
top of the room, save, open the door in the middle of the room and
attack these enemy, there are 3 of them, if you need to recover
some more you will need to go back to the same resting area and
taking the same precautions, from the room and fit, move close to
the outside door to the courtyard, save, move one fighter just a
little way west into the new area. This will engage several
different species of enemy 3 are mage. If you use long range
tactics from inside the room this is relatively easy, but move
outside and it becomes hard, once over it's free range to the
ladder, if you did not heed this warning and strayed, the hardness
of it would have been revealed to you, when all the enemies
attacked at the same time.

A fair way to the northeast of the ladder is a door in the top
wall.  It goes to the Tree and going east along the top are
several rooms needing Key's. It means trips back and fro, to the
far east is a ladder to the first level and just below that
slightly southwest, is a liche kill him [his protection is not
very good] and don't forget to smash his life box which is in the
far corner of the room.

A little to the southeast are a group of orcs, again be aware that
as you beat them more will arrive and you may be a little weak by
then. So prepare yourself on leaving the liche lair if coming from
that direction.

Now back to the west and on the third map line down, in the middle
section of the cellar is a round room, in here you will collect a
'Heavy Ring'. It makes you strong but affects what you can carry,
however you will get a suit of armour that is lightweight and will
balance the ring. Unfortunately you will still not be able to
carry anything. You can of course unburden yourself by selling the
ring at the earliest opportunity, wearing the armour and carrying
a considerable amount of equipment.

This round room is directly south of the Spire, to the west in the
next rooms you will come across more orcs, two in the first room
so get yourself inside and block the north door, kill these two,
close the eastern door that you just came through and block it
with preferably one of your magic users, open the northern door
and dispatch all inside. If you keep your group at this door and
use ranged weapons or magic they can't go anywhere and you won't
lose anyone, as soon as this is done and without moving save your
game, because you are about to be attacked by a much larger group
of orcs from the north and east, if time allows you to get inside
this northern room after the first fight and you block the
uppermost doorway [keep door open] and have both the south doors
closed. It will be the ideal position for you, the orcs will go
back and forth allowing you to take them out gradually. It is a
long process but by far the best.

The above situation has an entirely different scenario if
approached from the northwest, with too many orcs coming at you in
one attack and nowhere to hide. So try avoiding this
confrontation.

Directly west of this spot, against the west wall is another
ladder to the first cellar, from here moving down into the fourth
map line down and going east, remember I have not recorded all
that happens. So you will meet other fights and there will be
plenty of chests to untrap and keys to recover.

To the far east you will come to a chasm, the only way over is by
the bridge and if you click on the blue stone you will know that
you need a key to open it [this you may already hold, if not it's
to the north], on the other side of the door is a party of
'Margoyles' they are supposed to be more robust than the gargoyles
but I didn't find this so. Just behind them on the east wall is
another door that goes to the tree.

There are a few rooms left to clear in the 'Margoyle' section but
nothing you cannot handle. So press on.

There is not a lot more can be said about this level, just
remember if you can't complete a section, mark it and come back
later. It is probably the best way to complete all the levels
anyway, as you need to go back and forward to pick up certain
items and that also means travelling between the different floors.

One point to remember is, use those doors to the tree, even if you
have asked all the questions of them. It's by far the best way to
get all your stats back to normal, after a long time in the
cellars you will be low.

Catacombs-Lower Keep:

When you enter this keep level you are roughly 2 squares from the
left and 1 square from the top of the map. You are in a yard which
is split by a large chasm, to your north is a bridge that crosses
the chasm and is guarded by some Drow, do not attack them, they
will speak and offer you a proposition. It may be best just to
listen and then offer your help.

When the Drow lower the bridge they tell you to go, North, then
East, then South and finally West all the way, kill the Mage and
get the Staff. This is the correct way and the only way to the end
of this level, however there are a couple of small side pieces,
which are best done at the beginning. So don't cross the bridge
just yet.

Go east from the bridge to where you will find one door in the
wall, go through, be ready for the undead and mage on the other
side. This area is like a large building with several rooms
contained within. You will pick up some keys on this level that
will help you to finish off the floors above, which in turn will
give you keys to open doors down here.

It is best to stay within the walls of this area, there is another
way out but as you will pass the outside later in your journey.
You can cover that then [if you do stray outside, remember to come
back in], take your time this area has many foes and sometimes
catch you unawares.

In the middle room to the north, there is a box at the bottom of
the bed, make sure you smash it [it may take a few slashes],
inside is a liche and it will kill it totally. The door to this
room is secret and there are others. So push up against the walls
for a way through, to the east of this is a locked door, when you
find the key. It will let you through 3 rooms and into a final one
[magic door], the liche in here is in the lower corner and blind
to you on first entering, just rush him, he will soon die and you
will get a knife of searing light. It is not the rod the Drow
spoke about.

Go back into the main passage in this building and go south, go
through until you come to the last room. This holds a dozen
undead. It is best if you stay in the preceding room and use
ranged weapons and magic. Keep your strong fighters at the door to
hold them back, turn undead is not very good at the start of this
fight, there is nothing to pick up from this battle but the
experience will help.

Now go back to the bridge and cross over, I miss out a lot of the
smaller fights. So always be aware that there may be something
around the next corner, go west between the buildings and turn
south, the Drow said North but you need to do these side pieces
first and you will be back this way later, go through the first
door south.

Once through the two rooms and into the next courtyard, turn to
the east to another 2 rooms and another courtyard, there is then,
one room to the east and one to the south-west this last room
holds 2 naga that are trapped in beams. If you smash the pole in
the middle it will release them [don't kill then]. Now go back to
the first courtyard mentioned here and go south.

There are just 3 rooms to search here before you turn back and go
north to the place close to the bridge, where you came south, A
little to the north it's the only way through, is a large room
holding a naga. It doesn't matter what you say to him he or she
will attack you [so you may wish to get the first strike in].

Do not go through the northern door at the moment, that will be
for later, when you return to this spot. So press south. You will
now pass through a series of rooms and yards that have no side
tracking so you follow it to the end one way and then come all the
way back.

Leave the Golams [they have white circles at this stage] alone,
and do not fight the wraiths in the courtyards. This will only
activate the Golams and the fight will be lost, as you move into
the rooms of the dead mark on your map [with a flag] where each
Golam is.

The rooms hold a coffin and a large urn. You need to take a weapon
from each coffin and place a weapon in each urn, not always from
the same room so you may have to go forward and then come back, to
place them correctly.

Do not use 'Turn undead' against the wraiths. It will freeze some
of them in the courtyards, where all will be lost, just open the
doors let them come inside to you and fight them with weapons,
then rest and save before moving on.

When you get to the last room [outside is a passage with a Golam
at each end], rest, place two fighters with heavy weapons at the
door and save, open the last coffin, place the last weapon. This
will activate all the Golams, but they will only come to the door
of their respective areas,

It now means you have to move back to each section, blocking the
doors and attacking with heavy weapons, apart from the first
section where the Golams will come to you, the other Golams will
need some enticing, best done by running one player close to them
and then back to safety. It's slow but the only safe way.

It should take just the best two fighters to do the striking,
using all the others to give these two their needed health, from
behind them, finally make your way back to where you killed the
last naga.

Now you can start going North, then East, South and finally West,
as the Drow explained, there is some weaving between the rooms and
buildings but its not far off a straight line.

Roughly half way across going east, is a room that needs a key.
It holds chests. So you will need to come back and in the next
room east, 'Mummified Head Ancient Skull', further east is a room
in which there is a ladder to the Tree, search other rooms here.

Now go South, passing close to the first section that you cleared
at the beginning of this level, moving down the eastern wall,
there is only one gate that lets you through to the lower cells.
So make sure you have cleared any hazy parts behind you, that may
still be showing on your map.

The gate is a double wooden one and on its far side wait a dozen
undead. This is only a minor problem, if you block the gateway,
from here the rooms lay east and west of you but it is not very
wide. So not a great detour, just zig zag moving south, again
there is only one door through to the south. So you can't get
lost.

The way through is a large square room at an angle with the door
you enter pointing northwest and the door out pointing southeast,
do not rush through this lower door, rest and save, again place
your fighters at the door and place your magic users behind and
further back in the room.

Outside the door are about 3 dozen of the enemy, groups of Drow,
Orc, Mage and soldiers, should you decide to go out you will be
hit from all sides and will not survive, as these teams will
gradually move in toward the room. It is relatively easy to tackle
them. Your fighters can cut down the ones that come close to the
door, while the others use ranged weapons and magic from inside
the room. It takes a little time so don't get impatient to move
on.

After this fight, search the courtyard to the south and go through
the gate to the west, then search and through the 2 northern
rooms, to the courtyard above, from here it is best to work in an
anti clockwise direction, several 'Black Arraccats' occupy this
area and there are also ground traps in the middle parts of the
yards, these can reduce your health by half. So if you are not
fully fit, instant death, they can however be avoided by keeping
close to the walls.

Search the rooms to the west and go south to the cells, these
contain more Drow and Arraccats, move now, back to the east and
into all the rooms, as the next door to the south is approached,
look at the map to see if a very small section laying between the
door into this area and this door out has been missed, if so just
go back and clear it, then pass through this doorway.

This is the final door into the southern area, against the eastern
wall, is another door that goes to the tree, If you are carrying a
large amount of extras at this time. It may be a good idea to go
and sell them now, or you could go back and visit 'Kellan and
Bronwyn' [Second Cellar], who will thank you for helping them, one
of them is willing to join your party should you wish them to
[this is all down to the balance of your party, if you feel you
lack something and they have that something, then change,
otherwise keep what you have as by now your strength should be a
little higher than theirs.

Back on this level, the room immediately below the door has drow
in it and on the other side in the yard, the last room here
furthest east, holds a liche, but he is alone and no problem. Now
it is time to go all the way west, clearing the southern cells as
you go, most contain either drow, arraccats or undead and
sometimes all of them.

About half way along this road, there is a barrier. This means
passing through a room to the north side of the road and out the
other side, make sure you have cleared the whole area behind you
before proceeding.

On the other side of the room you are left with a large square
section, that finishes off the level. It contains several rooms a
couple of derelict buildings and plenty of drow, arraccats and
undead, It does not matter in which way it is completed but here
is one way.

Working from the last room and going up the east side, clear the
two rooms and move west to the first 3 rooms attached, clear these
and go through the northern door. Now go east and north, through
the derelict rooms and into the courtyard north. Now turn west
following the wall round to the north, just here is a room with a
ladder [can be seen on the map]. This goes to the first level, but
leave it until this area is completed as something is still
needed.

From the ladder room go west again, into another courtyard, there
is a door in the south west corner, prepare yourself for a long
hard fight, again place two fighters at the doorway after having
placed your magic users close to the western wall of this
courtyard and looking into the large room below, spread any other
players about a bit. So none are closely grouped and save the
game.

This is a spawning room and is protected by many arraccats.  Some
in the room at the beginning and others join from below as the
picture unfolds, lobbing fire into this room will help clear some
of them and keeping the doorway blocked will help protect your
party, or will it, because as you engage by having one person put
a foot into the room, a group of undead will come from behind you
and attack your rear. Your placings are correct so do not move
your party but take on the undead first, they are by far the
easiest to clear, standing your ground use magic missiles and
searing light plus conventional weapons, then go back to the fight
inside.

The arraccat fight is long and slow. So take your time. It is a
good time to experiment with some of your ranged magic spells to
see how they work but do not forget that your fighters at the door
may also need vital health restoration. Keep these fit and you
will win and also obtain the 'Rod of Sunlight' as promised by the
drow at the bridge.

Go south through the room clearing as you go [check that all the
sacs are destroyed], into the rooms to the south where a few
arraccats may remain. It only leaves 6 rooms to finish 1 to the
west and 5 along the south west bottom edge.

At the bottom and working from the east [although as explained
earlier it doesn't matter in which order your clear them], there
is a room with a secret door that holds a liche, smash the box.
Now going back to the west, there are four rooms to clear, the
last is reached from the third and is protected by a 'Glyph' but
as you have this. It will cause no problems and you can go right
in, the ladder goes down to the next level but don't go there just
yet, mark it to the prisons on your map, rest and save the game.

Go back to the ladder a little way north, the one that goes to the
first level, there are a few things you should do before going to
the prisons and in any order you chose, take Anorrweyn Evensong's
Skull back to her coffin, in the far southern area of the city,
sell all your unwanted gear and check out some of the locations
that needed keys to open them, first go to up the ladder to the
first level and southeast to the rooms, where you were probably
unlikely to have destroyed the drow.

Arm a cleric with the newly acquired 'Rod of Sunlight' [when using
this you will need to click on your players magic to arm it and
possibly another click to fire it], Place your party with the 2
fighters as usual at the main door [top corner], hide your others
as much as possible behind the outer wall, save and then Bless.
Now open the door. Keep your eye open for any of the drow creeping
through the other doors but it is unlikely they will, once the
door is open click as soon as possible on 'attack the drow', a lot
of the magic will not work, though magic missile is 95% effective
as is lightning strike although the latter could well hit your
players, which you can do without. Your best conventional weapons
are also 95% successful, concentrate on taking out the arraccats,
then the ordinary drow first. The boss lady is very strong but a
lot can be wasted on her, leaving her to last will let you
overpower her, at some stage a lot of the ordinary drow will pile
up behind her, a few fireballs will take care of these as she is
unable to help all of them recover at the same time. Try moving
your players back behind the wall between shots. It will keep you
healthier and don't forget to keep your fighters topped up and
last of all use your 'Rod of Sunlight' at every chance aiming for
the largest concentration of drow. It may hit more than one, after
the battle take all the spoils and leave this area.  Go up the
eastern side of this first level, heading towards the ladder to
the second level which is a little way north. You will come across
Nottle the rogue shopkeeper, he is with his pal 'Tudo' who offers
to join you, again you have a choice of what to do, he is a strong
Rogue but also maybe not very trustworthy.  Your decision, when
you are ready move to the next level.

To be concluded next issue
                              - o -