Faery Tale Adventure (MicroIllusions) - Part 1 Solution by unknown author, found on the Internet STARTING OUT You start the game one morning in Tambry. Your character is Julian, who has the highest bravery score of three brothers. As long as you stay within the village walls, you will not be attacked. Your first task is to thoroughly explore the village to look for magical items that will help you on your quests. Go to each of the buildings, and look for hidden objects, particularly near fireplaces. You should find: 1) a glass vial, which contains a healing potion that will restore lost vitality points; 2) a Bird Totem, which is a navigational device that gives you a "bird's-eye" view of your surroundings (useful when you're lost in Holm -- a common occurrence); 3) a jade skull, which will destroy any and all enemies attacking you; 4) a quiver of arrows; 5) a gold key. Keep in mind that all magic items and keys can be used only once, so be careful and use them wisely. Once you have collected these things and have saved your game, you are ready to begin. Soon after you step out of the village, you will be attacked. Monsters usually come in groups of four or less, and your bravery score will go up 1 point for every kill you make. Vitality will also increase as bravery goes up, although at a slower rate. Your maximum vitality is usually about one third of your bravery score. If you are lucky enough to defeat a group of monsters, save the game immediately. Then search each of the bodies (using the "take" command). You will often find weapons, magic items, and gold coins this way. Be prepared to die a lot in your initial encounters. There's no simple way to develop a strong character; you'll just need to keep saving and restoring until you've won enough battles to accumulate about 100 bravery points. By that time your character should be able to survive many, if not most encounters, provided his vitality doesn't run out. When you have a few hundred more bravery points, your character will be invulnerable to all but the bowmen. SURVIVAL TIPS: 1) Once you have a sword, your chances of surviving a battle improve significantly. You can buy one at the inn in Tambry, but you start the game with very little gold; you'll need that to buy food. The best way to get a sword is to take it from a dead monster. 2) There are treasure chests scattered throughout Holm, and you will find one just a little southeast of Tambry by the side of the road. These usually contain magic items, but their contents are completely random. Save the game just before opening a chest. If you don't like what you find inside, restore the game, open the chest again, and this time you will receive a different treasure. You can keep doing this until you get something you like. You might try to get a jade skull, which can save your life when you're losing a battle. 3) If you're hungry and your money is critically low, go to the stone circle east of Tambry near the coast (if you look carefully you'll see it marked on your map). There you will find 50 gold coins and some other treasures. MAGIC ITEMS Some of the magic items were explained above. Here are others you will find: 1) Green Jewels: These provide light for traveling at night. 2) Crystal Orbs: These will reveal secret doors in some of the dungeons. They're particularly helpful in Hemsath's tomb. 3) Gold Ring: This stops time for a while, and it's useful when you're under attack. You can't slay an opponent while time is stopped, but you can take his weapon and magic items. 4) Blue Stones: There is a network of large stone circles scattered throughout Holm. When you use a blue stone while standing in a stone circle, you are transported to one of the other stone circles. Which one you go to depends on which direction you are facing when you use the blue stone. For example, if you go to the stone circle near Tambry and face west while using the blue stone, you will be transported to the Isle of Sorcery. If you face east, you will be transported to the southern edge of Holm. You can use trial and error to "map out" the connections between all the stone circles, or you can follow this "transportation matrix" (courtesy of Ted Haskell): The circle you will be transported to is a result of the direction you last moved just before using a blue stone. Remember that if you were staggering when you entered a circle, you might not have moved in the direction you thought. I numbered the circles as follows: 1) West of dragon's cave. 2) Isle of Sorcery. 3) North of Lake of Dreams. 4) West of Grimwood. 5) East of Grimwood. 6) South of Pixel Grove. 7) East of Tambry. 8) South of Tambry. 9) South of Burning Waste. 10) Near mountains with Temple. 11) Extreme south near ocean. When standing in the circle whose number is in the left column, you will be transported to the circle whose number is under the column heading in which you last moved before using the blue stone. N S E W NE NW SE SW 1 7 11 8 4 3 6 10 9 2 6 10 3 9 7 1 8 11 3 10 5 9 1 11 8 4 2 4 2 3 6 10 1 5 7 8 5 1 8 7 11 6 2 3 10 6 3 9 10 5 8 7 11 4 * 7 --- 8 ---- 4 ---- 11 ---- 2 ---- 10 ---- 3 ---- 9 -----5 8 11 2 4 6 9 10 5 1 9 5 7 1 8 2 4 6 3 10 9 1 5 7 4 11 2 6 11 4 6 2 3 5 9 1 7 Circle 7 is highlighted because it is the closest to Tambry and may be thought of as home base. 5) Keys: These aren't magic, but they do disappear after one use; you will need many of them. Keys may be colored green, gray, blue, red, gold, and white. Use trial and error to find out which color key opens which door. One hint: White keys are rare and can only be found on the bodies of wraiths. A FEW WORDS ABOUT MONSTERS Skeletons are the easiest enemies to kill, and they will often have green jewels or glass vials. The hooded wraiths are deadly when you first start out, but after you've accumulated enough bravery points, they can do you little harm. Wraiths will often disappear when you kill them, but there is a way to get their treasure before they vanish. Watch carefully while you're battling a wraith. When you see its body start to crumble, stop fighting and immediately use the "take" command. If you time your actions correctly, you'll get the wraith's treasure just before it vanishes. Ogres are usually armed with maces or swords and won't pose much of a threat to a strong character. However, bowmen are always deadly no matter how many experience points you have. Kill them quickly. FAERY TALE ADVENTURE THE GRAVEYARD AND MARHEIM The following will describe of all the important places you will need to visit. You don't need to use my sequence exactly, but there is a rough order you must follow to complete your quests successfully. Before leaving on a long journey, make sure that you are well fed and your vitality points are high. Food is very scarce in Holm, and you will be starving for much of the time. Hunger won't diminish your ability to fight, but it will slowly drain your vitality. Once you start exploring, visit the various inns and keeps around Tambry. (Keeps are marked as little towers on the map.) You'll find treasures and gold in these places. There is a graveyard southeast of Tambry on the road leading to Marheim. (You'll see it on your map marked by a little headstone.) The graveyard is a good place to gain bravery points because you will be attacked often there -- usually by wraiths and skeletons. There is a crypt in the corner of the graveyard, and you can enter it if you have a gray key. Hang around in the crypt until midnight, and you will meet the Spectre who will give you a quest: He wants you to find the bones of the ancient king and bring them to him. Next you might want to go to Marheim, the capital city of Holm. The king's palace is here, and you can enter if you have a white key and a few gold ones. The king is upset because his daughter has been kidnapped. One of your quests will be to find her, but you won't be able to accomplish this until much later in the game. Search all the buildings in the city, and you'll find treasure. You will also meet the priest. If you ask him to, he will restore your vitality points to maximum (about one third of your bravery points). There's no tavern in Marheim, but there are apples in some of the buildings. You can carry these with you and eat them as you travel, but they will run out quickly. As far as I know, there is no other portable food in the game. TURTLE POINT AND SORCERY ISLAND By this time you should have considerable bravery points and be ready for a long journey. Head north towards Turtle point. There you will see three small, round objects which are the sea turtle's eggs. You will be attacked by some red serpents, which you should be able to easily kill. The sea turtle will then appear. If you have enough kindness points (25 or 30 should do it), you can talk to her. She will thank you for saving her eggs from the serpents, and she will let you ride on her back. She will also give you a seashell that you can use to summon her anytime you're near coastal waters. Once you're riding the turtle, sail west to Sorcery Island. Visit the crystal palace where the sorceress lives. You will need two blue keys to get in. Talk to her when you find her, and she will give you one of the five golden statues you must find to complete the game. Keep talking to her, and your luck score will go up five points at a time. If you use your save function conscientiously, you won't need much luck for most of the game, but it will come in handy when you reach the endgame. Now, if you want a short cut home, go to the stone circle in the northern part of the island. Face northeast, and use a blue stone. You will be transported to the Tambry stone circle. THE DRAGON'S CAVE Your next quest will be a little more complicated. The dragon's cave is located in the northern part of the snow mountains, east of the stone circle. (If you look closely, you will see the cave entrance marked on the map.) The easiest way to get there is to go to the Tambry stone circle, and use a blue stone while facing west. This will take you back to Sorcery Island. Now, face northwest, use another blue stone, and you will arrive at the stone circle near the snow mountains. From here, go south until you hit water. Then go directly east, and you will come to a mountain range. You should arrive right at the cave entrance or very near to it. When you enter the cave, you will go through a twisting tunnel until you reach a forked intersection. Take the branch on the right. (If you go left, you will find a maze of caves and tunnels that are interesting but contain no important treasure.) Soon, you will see the dragon. The best way to get around her is to stop time using a gold ring, and sneak by. After you pass her, you will come to a dungeon. It's only one level, but it's large. Make a rough map and explore thoroughly. There are magic wands in two separate locations, but you'll only need one. Once you find the wand you can explore for fun, but there are no important items to be found. Return to the dragon, and use a gold ring to go past. When you reach the stone ring, use a blue stone while facing north to return to Tambry. THE TOMBS OF HEMSATH Now you are ready for an even more complex task. Make sure you have a large number of gold keys and crystal orbs. You should also have a number of red keys. Set out early in the morning for the tombs. Make sure you're well fed before you leave. Upon entering the tombs, take the first right. Go to the end of the corridor, and turn right again. You will now go south through an extremely long corridor. You will eventually come to a corridor leading east. This will take you to a stone maze with rooms connected by golden doors. There's no easy way to tell you how to negotiate the maze. Of course, the golden doors unlock with the gold keys. Occasionally, you will see two rooms that are close together but have no connecting door. Use a crystal orb, and a secret door may be revealed. Use a red key to unlock secret doors. Explore the maze thoroughly, and you will find a gold statue and a bone (which represents the bones of the ancient king that the Spectre wanted you to find). There is a bug in the Amiga version that might help you if you're short on gold keys. Save the game before entering the stone maze. Unlock a few doors, then immediately restore to your original position. The doors will all be unlocked, and you will get back all the keys you used. I don't know if this will work for the Commodore version. Additional Amiga Note: There are still a couple of different versions of the Amiga game disks on dealers' shelves, and you'll need the current version to function properly with expansion memory. After leaving the tombs, go see the Spectre in the graveyard crypt at midnight. Give him the bone, and he will give you the crystal shard. To be concluded next issue - o -