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Walkthrough of Avernum 2 |
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Avernum 2
AVERNUM 2 FAQ/WALKTHROUGH
Avernum 2 is copyright Spiderweb software.
Version 1.9, 6/27/02
By Matt P
Check out http://www.geocities.com/zeviz1/index.html for an html
version of this faq!
Okay, this faq is pretty much complete by now. A few more things will
indubitably be discovered, but nearly everything is in here. To keep
check of new developments, please check the spiderweb message boards!
Thank you to all those who contributed! I may try to do a faq for
Avernum 3, but I'm currently working on Nethergate. Please register
your games and keep this great small software company happily making
more!
Added: a recipe guide, as people were asking for it. Thank you
Seletine for your assistance!
Copyright: This faq is copyrighted to me. Don't post this
anyplace where I haven't given you express permission to do so (email
for permission). If I find your faq on a site and you haven't obtained
permission, I will ask you to remove it. If not, then I'll get you to
pay my college tuition!
Email: elementalizard@aol.com. DON'T ask for registration codes or
any other crap like that. Do send any sort of hints you've discovered,
or things you think I may have missed, or spelling errors, grammatical
mistakes, etc. Don't bother with unimportant stuff like torches,
cursed items, or even shield rings at later points in the game.
They're not worth the time to put them into this faq. Check out the
message boards (get there through www.spidweb.com) for more fun!
How to use this faq. Despite being a walkthrough, I'd recommend
against playing as I played. Mainly this faq should serve as an index-
if you get stuck someplace, refer to it and maybe you'll figure it out.
You can use the "find" command to great effect. It also serves as a
hint guide for spells and abilities, and a location guide for rare
items and hard to find spells. It is quite useful for introductory
players who need some guidance on what to do first. Go to
www.spidweb.com to get this game! It's an excellent way to spend $25!
ABBREVIATIONS USED:
Xp- experience.
C- coins.
HP- Hit points
MP- Magic points
NPC- non-player character
Rep- Reputation
GIFTS- Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking Spider.
AP- action point, movement point, normally a character has 4 unless
they are wearing too much armor, or have magical items, spell effects,
or special traits.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
(1) Character creation
(2) Spell analysis
(3) Walkthrough
(4) Item analysis
(5) Index \ common questions (check for skills,
items, potion recipes, etc.)
(6) Hint summary
(7) How to cheat
(8) Replaying suggestions, solo guide
(9) Version history, websites
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(1) CHARACTER CREATION
GENERAL PARTY PLAN:
I usually go for 2 fighters and 2 magic users. It works quite well.
If I want to pick up the NPC Becca, I leave the first slot open, and
start with 2 magic users and one fighter. There are 4 NPCs, only Becca
is available in the unregistered part of the game, the others can be
found in the 4th chapter. NPCs are all very powerful, and usually of
high level.
RACE:
Avernum 2 has unique races; unlike the typical hobbit, dwarf, elf, you
get to choose between the feline nephilim and the reptilian
slithzerikai. Most characters do not care if you have a slith or a
nephil, but a few say things like "I hate nephilim" or "Sliths are
evil." Include at least 1 slith in your team as you can later buy
nice, cheap spells from a slith town only if you have a slith in your
party. Sliths are great warriors who are skilled with pole weapons.
They make decent priests. It's your choice on the nephil, though it's
probably not a bad idea. They make excellent archers and thieves.
Additionally, from Alex on the spiderweb software message boards:
Nephilim act much sooner in combat, especially at higher levels. Yes,
Haste and Slow matter more, but some monsters are very fast. Measured
in terms of DEX/GYM required to get the same result, Nephilim start
with +1, and gain an additional +1 bonus every 8 levels or so. In
comparison, Fast on Feet gives you +2, whereas Sluggish gives you -3
and 1 AP less EVERY round. How can you even consider Sluggish? I love
speed!
Also from Alex: Regarding Races and Elite Warrior, to get an estimate
of how useful the bonuses are, at level 1, non-humans get +15% attack
rating with their traditional weapons, while Elite Warrior gives +5%
(+20% more when going berserk). These bonuses seem to increase by +5%
every 8 levels or so, and the damage bonus is probably proportional to
the attack rating bonus (+5% attack rating => +1HP damage).
Even more from Alex: In both cases, the attack rating is indeed
increased every 8th level. As for the damage, I haven't done any
statistical analysis, however, it seems as if Elite Warrior does more
for the damage, while the Slith and (especially) Nephil bonuses do more
for the attack rating (it's a bit like Gauntlets of Might/Warrior's
Ring).
Slith pole weapons bonus:
Level 1: +15%
Level 8: +20%
...
Level 32: +35% etc.
Elite Warrior:
Level 1: +5%
Level 8: +10%
...
Level 48: +35%
The berzerk bonus goes up from +20% to +40%.
More from Alex(!): Nephilim also gain a bonus to the Parry skill, if
you like that sort of thing.
CLASS:
Always go custom, unless you really want to start playing right away.
There are some skills you probably want to avoid at the start of the
game which the predefined character classes have some points in.
SKILLS:
Some skills are more useful than others. Here's a general guide
Strength- Get some of this. Plunk points into this along with
dexterity as you gain in levels. Strength is initially more important,
as you want to raise you carrying capacity, but once you max it out at
350, slow down and put more points into dexterity. UPDATE: Strength
also adds ~.2 points of damage
Dexterity- Get some of this. Make strength your priority initially,
then start plunking points into this skill. This'll affect the speed
at which you act in combat, as well as several secondary skills.
UPDATE: Contrary to popular belief, it does not affect your to hit%.
Intelligence- Necessary for mages and priest, not much so for
warriors. Still, adding 1 point for warriors will give them some
arcane lore and cave lore for free. It's up to you.
Endurance- Not too important initially, as you don't get many bonus
hit points for increasing this skill, but later on, a single point will
increase you HP by 10 or more.
Melee- Add a few points if you wish, but it's best to get points in
these skills by raising your strength and dexterity. This'll also
allow you to switch weapons without hassle. The alien blade,
demonslayer, flaming and icy longswords are all melee. UPDATE: DO
invest points in these skills! They do increase the damage your
weapons do, by a similar amount as strength.
Pole- See above. The two most powerful weapons in the game are both
pole weapons, but you get them rather late in the game.
Bows- A decent skill, but pretty easy to raise later on. Don't put
too many points into as you can get trained by the nephilim near
Mertis. Adding a point to archery gives you +5% to hit, and +.25
average damage. From Alex, on the Spiderweb message boards: You can
buy 4 additional levels of bows skill from the Nephilim regardless of
how much you already have. On the other hand, anyone using bows will
probably have enough Dexterity and race/trait bonuses (Nephilim + Elite
Warrior) to be able to manage without much training in this skill. My
first party had a Nephil archer in it all the way to the end, and I'd
say it was nice for the variety and for taking out Rakshasi quickly,
but magic is still best overall.
Thrown- It's up to you. Razordisks are plentiful and powerful, and
this skill isn't all that expensive, but it's not nearly as powerful as
bows.
Hardiness- A must. Increasing your hardiness will decrease the
negative AP effect of armor. If you ever find that one of your
characters has 3 AP now instead of 4, put a point or two in this skill,
that'll remedy it. It also affects the damage you take, and some of
your resistances.
Defense- Cheaper than hardiness, but not as useful. Still, a few
points never hurt.
Assassination- Useful, but not all that much initially. Killing a
goblin by doing 70 damage gets you the same result as doing 15 damage.
Boost this up later for very nice results.
Mage Spells- start with at least one person with 6 in this. Another
person could have 1 point, as it doesn't hurt. As you gain levels,
make this skill a priority for your mage until you get 18 in it, then
you can pretty much ignore it.
Priest Spells- start with one person with 6 in this, and probably
another with 1 point in it. As you gain levels, make this skill a
priority for your priest until you get 18 in it, then you can pretty
much ignore it.
Arcane Lore- Necessary for reading tomes and identifying items. Put
points into this occasionally, it's a cheap skill.
Potion Making- Not necessary much at all. Still, plunk a point or
two in it every now and then so that someone can make energy potions
when you're in a bind, or graymold salves for the miscellaneous quests
that require them. It's better than first aid at least.
Tool Use- A decent skill that's pretty cheap. Only buy it for one
person, though. If you have this skill at a high enough level (~30),
you can rip off Motrax without fear, though this is quite an
investment.
First Aid- Ignore this skill. Why? Because to use it you need first
aid kits, which aren't that hard to find, but which weigh a lot. That,
and you need a high level in order to use this without fear of doing
more harm then good. Plus, healing spells make this kind of useless,
especially given how cheap they are.
Arguments about ignoring first aid:
+Longshot: I'll say myself that I disagree on some level with you
about first aid skill. It was incredibly useful to me at low levels,
and my skill in it was only 6 and I was using normal first aid kits.
The reason it was so useful is because I would always run out of spell
points while in dungeons. Also, first aid kits are all over the place,
and can be bought for a fair price anywhere. Healing herbs, on the
other hand, must be scavenged for. They are MUCH rarer than first aid
kits (My note: at the beginning, anyway).
+Enzo7za: And also at high levels first aid does not heal only 30+/-.
If your intelligence, anatomy, and first aid skill is high enough it
can heal 150-300 HP (I checked with the editor[raised stats]).
+y0d1n2a3: Also, Priests with high first aid skill can heal PCs
without fist aid kits (but the effect is much weaker).
-Although you could just as easily invest those points in something
more useful, like priest spells, this gives you more MP and stronger
spells. Still, give it a try if you're up for something different.
Cave Lore- Useful for dodging monster attacks and occasional special
encounters. I plunk a few points in it sometimes.
Luck- A nice miscellaneous skill. I would recommend ignoring it if
it weren't so damn pervasive! There are a lot of encounters in which
this skill is checked, and having a lot always helps. Plus it helps
your resistances. Plus, it can save your life if you're down to 0 HP
and get hit. But it is quite expensive.
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
This is a rather subjective area. Still, for the sake of completeness:
Great Renown: Gives a reputation point or two occasionally. Skip it,
reputation is easy to come by.
Nimble Fingers: Gives bonuses when attempting to disarm traps and
unlock doors. Not bad and may help, though not necessary.
Beastmaster: Allows character to start with the summon beast ability.
Useful at the beginning, but not at the end. The call beast spell is
better, and doesn't have an XP penalty. Skip it.
Good Education: Gives a bonus to rune reading and item lore. Not
bad, though you should quickly have enough rune reading for this half
of the skill not to matter.
Toughness: Gives damage protection. Go for it if you want.
From Alex: The character trait Toughness allows you to regenerate
health points at twice the normal speed. Of course, it's still not
worth the experience penalty.
Fast on Feet: Makes you act faster, and occasionally gives you an
extra AP. I like this one, though it's hardly necessary. With this
skill and boots of speed, you can attack as many as 4 times in a single
round if you're lucky and have a lot of spells. 3 times is the maximum
without this skill.
Natural mage: Gives you spell-casting bonuses for both priest and
mage spells, and enables you to cast mage spells while wearing armor.
VERY nice. Allowing a mage to wear plate mail and still cast fireblast
is a big advantage. The bonuses (+4, which increases by level- see
section 5) are nice too, but not nice enough to warrant this getting
this skill for a priest, since their spells can be cast without fear of
encumbering armor.
Elite warrior: Gives a lot of combat bonuses which improve with
level, as well as the go berzerk special ability. An excellent skill
that keeps on giving, even at higher levels. Definitely worthwhile.
Divinely touched: Gives small bonuses with everything- it acts kind
of like it's a lesser version of all the above abilities. It also
gives the lay on hands, natural curing, and summon shade special
abilities. Not so hot, because of the significant experience penalty.
It's an excellent starting ability, however, especially on harder
difficulty levels. Still, I say skip it.
Of the bad abilities, sluggish, sickness prone, and brittle bones are
the only ones you should consider, even then, with great hesitation.
The experience bonuses are nice, but the difference is not too
significant, maybe a couple of levels at the end. Still, it's fun to
try something new.
From Alex: Completely inept makes you 1.5X as vulnerable to fire.
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(2) SPELL ANALYSIS:
MAGE SPELLS:
Bolt of fire: Always useful, except on fire resistant monsters.
Levels 2 and 3 can be gotten quickly, making this spell powerful from
the beginning.
Light: Nice and useful, improving levels helps some, but not a lot.
Skip level 2 if you want.
Call beast: Not so very useful for the most part. If you're playing
on higher difficulties this spell actually isn't half bad. Sometimes
you can summon something very nice, but most of the time it's pretty
lousy.
Bind Foe: Finally! A spell with controversy! Level 1 of this spell
is one of the best in the game! Why? Because it's irresistible. Cast
it on a demon, and the demon misses his next turn. Use it on a drake,
and you can pummel them to goo without worry of retaliation. From
Longshot on the Spiderweb message boards: If you plan on using this
spell a lot, though, go for level 2. It can be resisted by some high
level enemies, but it still is very useful stopping most enemies, and
it's cheap too! Level 3 is a good improvement on level 2, go for it as
it's very nice against giants and dervishes.
Haste: Very useful. The difference between level 1 & 2 is slight,
but helpful. Level three is excellent. When fighting slow-spell-happy
magic-using badguys, have you mage (W)ait then cast this at the end,
and tada! No slow state!
Slow: The enemies love this spell, especially the damnable aranea
and demons. I don't use it too much, but others do.
Ice Lances: This spell is very useful at the beginning, then becomes
obsolete at the start of chapter four, which is a shame because you get
level 3 in chapter 4. Oh well.
Unlock doors: A must. It's best to start off with this spell. Level
2 isn't all that big an improvement over level 1, but is nice to have.
Level 3 is very sweet- all doors are opened by this spell.
Create illusions: Take it if you want it. Summon aid is better, as
the monsters won't die instantly, but this spell can serve as a decent
distraction against non-magic-using monsters (I used in once in
Sulfras's cave to a good effect).
Farsight: Very desirable. Even with this faq, a lot of stuff is
hard to get to, and when I give vague directions like "east of blah,"
it's nice to cast this spell and figure out what I'm talking about.
Level 3 works outdoors.
Lightning spray: When you get this spell, it replaces ice lances as
your dominant damage spell. It's pretty powerful, but eventually gets
ignored when you get fireblast, except when fighting fire resistant
beasties.
Capture soul: A neat spell. Use it on powerful enemies to plunk
their life essence into your soul crystal. Then you can summon them up
with simulacrum. The bad thing is this spell needs to be a high level
to capture a powerful enemy.
Simulacrum: The best summons spell. Get a haakai or lich, a null
bug, an ur-basilisk, and some strong physical enemy in it and you're
set.
Dispel barrier: A necessary spell. Level 3 doesn't do too much,
though.
Summon aid: Nice for distractions. Useful when fighting giant slugs,
as they spit at the summoned creatures rather than at you. Also useful
when you need to run (when ie quickfire's burning your butt, and
enemies are behind you).
Beast Ceremony: Extremely nice. Cast it before all outdoors
encounters to give a heap of whoopass to your foes. Level 1 isn't so
hot, but level 2 is excellent. Level 3 adds a nice touch, but level 2
is all you really need.
Fireblast: Probably the best damaging spell out there. Get enough
magery, intellect, and mage spells, and this spell will do well over
100 damage. Not too bad.
Arcane summon: Eh, get it, but you won't use it much. This spell
pales in comparison to a decently stocked soul crystal and simulacrum,
although the summons do stay around longer.
Arcane shield: Not bad, though I prefer divine warrior.
Arcane Blow: A nice damaging spell for those fire resistant bad guys,
though fireblast is still probably better. It's quite costly in MP as
well.
PRIEST SPELLS:
Healing: As useful and pervasive as bolt of fire. Level 2 is a nice
bonus, so go ahead and get it. Level 3 makes this spell very good.
Curing: Useful. Skip level 2, as level 1 also cures disease. Level
3 is nice in that it gets rid of acid.
Battle rage: Very nice. Level 2 increases the strength and makes it
last longer. It hastens the target at level 3, making haste levels 1 &
2 pretty much obsolete, except against spell casters.
Shielding: Good, especially on harder difficulties. This'll block
your enemy's blows and damage. Level 3 gives magic resistance, a very
nice addition.
Repel spirit: A great spell. Get it to level 2 as soon as possible,
you won't regret it. Level 3 is a must have spell as well.
Smite: Good at lower levels, not so good at upper levels. Get level
2 as soon as possible. Soon divine fire replaces this spell, except in
the rare case of a non-demonic, fire-resistant monster.
Summon shade: Not bad, adds an ally for a while. Greater shades are
decent, though vengeful shades are very nice.
Safe Travel: Bleh. Pathfinder quickly makes this spell completely
useless. Don't go out of your way for this one.
Unshackle mind: Useful against mind-bending monsters like gremlins,
ghasts and fungoids. Level 2 is very useful.
Move Mountains: Similar to dispel barrier, move mountains is
necessary in this game. You get it early, and you can do a lot with
it.
Mass healing: Depending on the circumstance, use either this or just
regular healing.
Mass Cure: See above. Again, skip level 2.
Sanctuary: I rarely use this spell. It could be decent, especially
at level 3. If an enemy ever casts this spell, keep using missile
weapons or spells and that'll nullify its effects.
Divine Fire: The best priest offensive spell. Use it often.
Control Foes: An interesting spell. I don't use it much, although it
is occasionally useful.
Cloud of Blades: A unique spell. It alone can hurt black shades and
Guardians as far as magic goes, and it'll also hurt the rakhasha, which
is a great use for it. Unfortunately, you only get three clouds at
max.
Return life: I just reload. There's a rare but unfortunate bug in
the game that may cause items to disappear if a character dies, so
reloading is probably best.
Divine warrior: Probably the best spell. It doubles you AP, gives
you a super strong blessing, and makes you harder to hurt than a lump
of rock. Get it as soon as possible, and use it whenever you're faced
with big bad guys.
Divine restoration: A nice spell, especially when at higher skill
levels. Out of combat just use healing 3.
Divine host: Bleh. Get this one for the sake of completeness, but
it's quite lousy. One fireblast from the enemy, and poof, no more
shades. If third level summoned vengeful shades, that'd be another
story, but as is, don't go out of your way to get 2nd level.
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(3) Walkthrough
This is how I played my most recent game. You don't have to follow
it word for word, I'd strongly recommend against it, in fact. But if
you ever need hints, just find the dungeon and hopefully you'll find
your answers. I played the game on tough difficulty this time through,
so if you find that certain enemies are downright easy and I say
they're difficult, make sure you're not on easy difficulty. If you
discover some super strategy, tell me. I played through this game
without cheating, including the fight-end strategy found in (6).
There's a walkthrough for the registered section of the game included
in the help file. You can use either theirs or mine.
**************************CHAPTER 1****************************
Watch the entrance sequence to figure out what's going on. Better yet,
buy and play Avernum 1!
FORT GANRICK.
Q: Kill the nephar chieftain
Q: Find the stolen arrow supply.
You start off in Fort Ganrick. Walk around a bit and get acquainted
with what's going on. Go east and get equipped with the stuff you find
in there.
HINT: In general, try to figure out if something is better than what
you've got. For instance, a stone spear has stats of 2-20 -1, whereas
an iron spear has stats of 2-20. The stone spear has an average damage
rating of 10, but the iron spear has an average damage rating of 11.
Go for iron. This is pretty much always true. The hierarchy of items
is bronze/crude/poor/stone < iron < steel < blessed.
HINT: Look in items. Press "L" and choose something. The best stuff
is found in crates, barrels, dressers, bookcases, desks, and of course
chests. On rare occasions, you can find stuff in other objects- for
instance, in Fort Ganrick, there are some casks in the equipment room
which have some cheap wine hidden in them, which you can take (go ahead
and take them, you can sell them in Chapter 4).
HINT: Stealing: It ain't a crime if you don't get caught. Many items
have a "NY" next to them. If you try to take the item, and someone is
watching, you get in trouble (and may even instantly die). There are
ways around this. For instance, there's a desk in the southeast which
has some copper coins. Close the door behind you after entering this
room, and steal them, making sure no one can see you. This'll happen a
lot, and I'll only mention it at the first couple of towns, unless it's
something notable.
HINT: There's a big selection of food in this game. Generally, I go
for the lightest (greens), and ignore the heavier lizard haunches and
fine meals. If you want variety, pick up all that you can. You should
never need to buy food, as there's always plenty lying around.
HINT, from luthien on the spiderweb message boards: If you're loading
up on loot and hit the max items, you can pick up a couple more things
if you equip the non-magic jewelry (or any other items like bows and
missiles that you don't already have equipped). This is typically only
useful earlier in the game before your characters are completely decked
out.
Go north and talk with Commander Vidican and get the quest. Then
leave, quickly. You can come back after you've gained a few levels.
HINT: Quests are your main source of reputation, and a good source of
gold and xp. Whenever you complete a quest, be sure to get your
reward! Uncompleted (ones where you've not received a reward) quests
can be found under "Current quests" in the character info screen.
THE OUTDOORS.
All right. The great outdoors. There are several encounters with
enemies nearby. In general, be nice to guards and never surrender your
money to bandits. Those lizards can't be corralled, as far as I know.
There are goblins, mushrooms, undead, and bandits all nearby with
unique encounters.
HINT, from luthien on the spiderweb message boards: Since loot and
experience are so valuable, I will usually save the game right before
any wandering encounter. Then reload the game to make sure I get the
maximum number of enemies. 8 bladesman, 6 empire archers is better than
5 and 3...
You're also likely to run into spiders, nephilim, and bats. Here we
reach a dividing point. You have two significant options: Either go
east to Formello and pick up Becca, or ignore the NPCs all together.
It depends on your playing style. Becca is quite powerful, and has
more points as a level 7 character than any of your guys will, but
she's not Yours. She was premade, and not handpicked like your
characters. Still, if you're following this faq that won't matter all
that much, and you can always change her name, and picture and make her
Yours. It's your choice. If you do go to pick her up, first go to
Formello and trigger the cave quake (just walk towards the east), then
ask her to join you. Else, head on to:
FORT DRACO.
Q: Kill the bandits
Q: Deliver iron bars
Q: Deliver marriage proposal.
Just south of Fort Ganrick is Fort Draco, an important industrial hub.
There's some important stuff going on here. Anfrond, a mage sitting in
the east, is having trouble with bandits. Killia needs iron bars.
Harg is too scared to ask Rose to marry him. These are all quests. Go
ahead and talk to these people to start the quests. There's some good
stuff to steal too. Go into Boutell's shop, close the door, and wait
for him to disappear into the black (make sure he's not just off the
screen, press the arrow keys in the corner to move your sight). When
he's gone, take the Iron greatsword (nice powerful early weapon), and
move up, do the same and take his iron bar. Then, in the boat shop, go
into the SW room after unlocking it, close the door behind you, and
pillage it. Then leave, find the barrel/crate with an iron bar in it,
move the crate to her room, close the door, and take it. Now you've
got a bit more money. Then go NW, outside of the city walls, and find
the separated building. The saleswoman is rather nervous (buy some
lockpicks from her). Something funny is going on here... Go out
around back and down the trapdoor. This is your first dungeon! Cast a
light spell or use a torch or candle to be able to see. Walk on down,
and you'll run into a batch of soldiers. Uh oh, they're not friendly.
Kill them, they're not too hard, and take all their stuff.
HINT: When you kill things and finish quests, you get xp. Get enough,
and you gain a level. The maximum obtainable level is 50, but this is
hard to obtain with a normal party.
From luthien on the spiderweb message boards: It appears that the
penalty for experience is random. If your penalty is -50%, I think the
50% is applied by giving each point a 50% chance of occurring. Either
that or some other distribution. I've completed quests worth 30 XP
where the 50% penalty character will get anywhere from 10 to 20 XP. The
moral of the story is, save before you complete a quest or some other
big-XP action. It will be hard to get max XP for all your characters,
but at least you can prevent one PC from getting cheated too much.
NOTE: Although I've not checked, it is possible that the reverse is
true for having an experience bonus (taking the negative traits like
brittle bones). Let's say you have a bonus of 15% to xp. With each xp
point gained, there is a 15% chance of gaining another xp point.
Equip anything that's stronger than what you've got on, then take
anything else that's worth money and isn't nailed down.
HINT: You may find yourself unable to carry any more. There are a few
ways around this, from Zeviz: There is also a (slightly cheating) way
to carry much more than your weight allowance. When you are trying to
equip an item, it does not go through the weight check. So if you equip
that super heavy Empire armor straight from the ground, you'll be able
to carry it even if it takes you over your weight allowance. And from
TIE187: Also, if your party has a strength bracelet, you can pass it
around and equip it on each character when they're picking up loot. It
adds 60 stones to the character's carry capacity, up to 350 stones.
Again, "the problem is that you can't drop anything since you won't be
able to pick them up again."
Then go back up the stairs. You can sell your stuff to Orson to get
the best prices (drop the ore, meal and wine- these are later quest
objects). Or, you can go to:
TOR'S HOMESTEAD.
Q: Kill the salamanders.
A bit east of Fort Draco is Tor's homestead. A nice place, though
there are some vicious lizards in the pen just east of the entrance.
You can kill them if you want. There's a nice strength elixir ripe for
stealing in the northern building. Go and talk to Tor and see what's
wrong. Seems as though he needs to hire an exterminator. That'd be
you. Go and find his salamanders and kill them. They're not too
tough, though they have flame fields around them. Then go back and
talk with him. For this, you get a shielding charm (acts like armor),
10xp, one rep, and the ability to train in BARTER.
HINT: Throughout the game you are occasionally given opportunities to
obtain and increase special skills. These can be very powerful.
------------------------SPECIAL SKILL----------------------------------
Barter is a very useful skill. It increases the selling prices of your
items. Get 5 points for everyone, pretty much as soon as you can.
Don't bother training in this skill, though, just get Tor to max you
out. Every time you get 150 coins or so, come back and have him
educate you. You'll quickly max out your skill. 60% is the maximum
selling price obtainable through any means.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Go back to Fort Draco and sell off your equipment. You may have enough
money to go and buy more points in Barter, though you can wait till you
get some multiple of 150c to go and learn, if that's less tedious.
Eventually, with enough barter, Orson will buy your iron bars for more
than 25c, making the Killia quest obsolete. (Additionally, from Alex on
the spiderweb message boards: Healers always buy items at the maximum
selling price. The only, and somewhat annoying, exception is the shade
in chapter 2. It doesn't buy anything - kill it! ). Go back to the NW
and go down the trapdoor, and kill everyone you find down there.
You'll kill the leader, the quest objective. There's a secret door
that leads to a trapped hall with crates that have some decent supplies
in them. Soon you'll run into an apprentice mage and some soldiers,
kill them, and look at the bookshelf. You'll get firebolt level 2, a
nice spell. Pick everything up, sell it and repeat as necessary. The
NE section of this dungeon is filled with rats, including the annoying
vapor rats. Kill them, and you may get a couple of furs to sell. Go
up and tell Anfrond what you've done and you'll get 1 rep, 15xp, and
150c.
Now you can head back to Fort Ganrick. You'll soon get into a fight
with nephilim. Kill them, and make sure that neither Gridley (the non-
soldier) nor Commander Vidican get killed. You'll get a map for this.
Use it to get a password. You can talk to Gridley for another quest,
the "Find the stolen arrows quest." From here I'd suggest heading down
to Formello and talking with Rose, in the inn. Then go back and talk
to Harg, telling him the good news. He'll throw a shielding ring down
(take it, 5xp as well) and stop talking with him. You'll lose a
reputation point if you don't.
NEPHIL FORT:
Then you can head off to the nephil caves. There's a secret passage to
the northern part of the caves above the obvious lower cave entrance,
go here first. You'll get into fights with nephilim, goblins, undead
and hydras on this level. Nothing too difficult at this point.
Eventually you'll make it to a door, and will automatically use the
ghath password to get into the larger parts of the caves. This is one
of the larger levels. Kill anything that moves, with the exception of
Arum. Points of Interest: Arum is held captive in far SE, and his
deceased friend was held in the cell right above him. Check the
friend's body for a Beast Call Crystal.
HINT: You'll occasionally find one of the really nice learning
crystals. They're small blue things that come in three flavors-
abilities, skills, and energy pulse. Ability crystals give you a new
ability, like lay on hands or something. Skill crystals teach you 3
points in a given skill. Energy pulse crystals just dumbfound you, but
are good to sell at 599c apiece.
You can free Arum (1rep 5xp) after slaying the nephar chieftain.
Towards the SW there is a tunnel that'll let you leave to sell your
items. There's a lot of loot in this dungeon, but even obsessive-
compulsives like me aren't going to bother with stone daggers, I'd
suggest just picking up the better-selling items. South of the evil
altar there is a bookcase with the very useful spell Move Mountains.
You only get first level, though. East of the big room is the nephar
chieftain. Kill him to finish the quests. Go a bit SE to kill some
nephil shamans, and get to their book. Destroy the book (don't read
it!) for 5xp. Go NE of the nephar chieftain room and you'll fight a
nephil chieftain. Kill him and go into his room. On the west side,
there's a secret passage which'll lead to two poison fungi and the
treasure room.
HINT: Those are magic barriers. There are three types: fire, which
can be walked through for damage, force, which are impenetrable but can
be removed with a dispel barrier spell, and Big and Weird, which are
those which are separating Avernum and which you'll run into again
later.
Fortunately the lower one is a fire barrier. Walk into it to get a
poor chain mail and rogue leather (very nice- improves tool use, and is
1-4+3). That's about it for here.
FORMELLO
Q: Find healing herbs
Q: Destroy evil altar.
Go back to Fort Ganrick to get your reward (3rep, 20xp, ~400c). Now
you should have nice bit of loot. You may even have maxed out your
barter skill. Time to spend some money! Follow the road to get to
Formello. If you've picked up Becca, you've already triggered the cave
quake. If not, that'll happen, and a vahnatai will tell you to come
and explain your actions (Chapters 2 and 3). This opens up a tunnel to
the vahnatai lands. Go there when you feel you're ready to move on.
Otherwise, there are three main ways of burning off cash here: mage
spells, priest spells and the pathfinder skill. Near the center of the
town is a mage who sells mage spells. See the mage spells section to
see my opinions on what to buy. The priest to the north sells priest
spells, and the PATHFINDER skill.
------------------------SPECIAL SKILL----------------------------------
Pathfinder is a nice and useful skill. It allows you to walk on places
which normally hurt you, like swamps, magic-zappers, and even lava. As
such, possessing enough of this skill makes the safe travel spell
completely obsolete. By everyone 5 points, except for one character.
For this one character buy only 2 points. You'll find a learning
crystal later on which'll give you three more points in this skill.
Don't bother training in this skill, as there is no benefit to getting
more than 20 (or even ~17 for that matter).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This spell costs a lot of cash, comparatively, but it's still a good
investment. Also in Formello is Stoppard, who'll buy healing herbs at
30c a pop. If you need money, go for it. I prefer holding onto those
herbs, but that's just me. Next to Stoppard's store is Townshend's
store. Townshend provides an important service: Identification. Those
odd rings and minor magical items can be identified here, for a cheap
price. Commander Graham will give you a quest: Destroy the evil
nephilim altar. In order to do this, you'll need the ritual of
sanctification. The wizard's apprentice will give you give you hints
about this. In order to get it, leave the town wall through the west
and head north on the east side of the moat. Go as far north as you
can, then walk east through the secret door. Read the book and
everyone who has a point in priest spells will get this ritual (one of
the reasons to give a point of priest spells to a second person). In
the Inn you find Rose, as mentioned earlier. The innkeeper is also
having problems with a ghost, and you can help him out by destroying
it. Do so and you'll be allowed to sleep at this inn for free.
There's a gold ring east of the mayor's room which you can steal. You
may want to save it for a later chapter 4 quest, but it's up to you.
That's about it for Formello.
VERDANT VALLEY
Nearby this dungeon is a special encounter outdoors. You can help some
soldiers fight some nephilim, and get a healing elixir as a reward.
This is an interesting, large level. There are two ways of exploring
this dungeon, from the south and from the north. From the south, you
can access a secondary level filled with lava and such. There's not
too much here, a few minor goodies, some gold, some fine leather armor,
and a wand of bolts. From the north is much more interesting. You
encounter a bunch of bandits and their hideout. For now, hold on going
up the ramp. Instead go out the staircases to the south, and work your
way to the body in the middle. You'll have to fight cave rats, mung
rats, vapor rats, plain bats and lava bats, but eventually you'll get
to a dead body with a Lay On Hands ability crystal. After getting
this, go on back to the bandit hideout and go up the ramp. Kill
everyone in this section of the hideout. To the east, you'll find the
stolen arrow shipment. In the northern room, there is a secret door
along the west wall with a passageway that leads through a fire barrier
to a bunch of annoying hordlings. Kill them, and look at the
bookshelf. You'll get 10 xp. That's it for here, so head on back to
Fort Ganrick and claim your reward (100c, 15xp, 1 rep.).
STRANGE CAVE
Now that all the newbie major areas are done, it's time to hit some of
the lesser areas. The strange cave has a very nice reward at the end.
This dungeon is found by going south from Fort Draco one map down, till
you see a sudden tunnel west. There's a secret door on the northern
wall, and you'll find the cave. Go in, and kill the three damn
gremlins. Then go north and kill the giant. Check the eastern wall of
the giant's lair for secret doors, then go grab his stuff. There's a
thinking cap there, which makes it all the worthwhile (a helm which
improves your mage spells).
REMOTE CLEARING
Another minor cave with decent stuff is the remote clearing. It can be
found by taking the NW route from Formello, and is a hidden dungeon- a
few mushrooms mark its location. Inside, there are three nasty cave
slimes, and 2 viscous goos. Then you can get to the herb patch.
HINT: There are two types of herb patches- one is found on the outdoor
map as a special encounter, the other is found in an actual dungeon.
The latter are much better as they have more herbs than the outdoors
ones. There are 3 dungeon herb patches. Come back to them every 5-7
days or so to pick up some more herbs
MOTRAX'S CAVE.
Motrax is a kindly old dragon who's seen better days. This will later
be an important dungeon for you, but for now, there's two small things
to do. Commander Ko wants you to go kill some bandits (they're the
ones who demand 25c from you- you may have run into them already). Go
out and kill them if you haven't done so, then tell him about it. You
get 10xp and 1 rep for this. Behind Ko's office there are some tunnels
with lizards in them. Kill the lizards and take their loot. You don't
get any reward for this action.
BOAT RIDE
Q: Kill the ogres.
You can get a boat in Fort Draco. There's a lot out there that makes
this a worthwhile venture. After rowing it outside, south of the fort
is a ledge along the east bank, which leads to a secret tunnel with a
ash bow on a dead body. Further south is an island with some lizards
on it. You can get off on the west bank and explore. There are some
shades nearby, talk with them for a quest.
HINT: Whenever presented with the option to be friendly, do so. More
often than not the others will react with friendliness or indifference.
If nothing comes of this, save, then attack.
The ogres they seek dead are to the south. In the meantime, you may
run into a batch of aranea. These suckers are annoying, and if your
difficulty is on higher than normal, they are rather hard to kill.
Destroying them nets you a wand. Further south is a small fort filled
with evil lizard men. Wipe the fort clean, freeing the prisoner (5xp).
Slith spears are good single-handed weapons. Fine slith spears are the
best one-handed spears out there. Go east from this fort, through a
secret door and you'll find the ogres. Kill them, then go back and
talk to the shades for 15xp. Then go west, then south, and you'll run
into some mushrooms. There's an abandoned town with a free iron bar,
and a nearby shop (Waldby). He sells crap for now, unfortunately.
Some people like to kill him and take his stuff, but I'd recommend
against it. He'll identify and buy your items. Further east from here
is an empire outpost. You can kill them and get their nice equipment,
and a set of blessed bolts. East of that is an empire supply cache.
If you have adequate luck (8 total, from Luthien), you can guess the
password and burn the place (looting does nothing). This is part of a
chapter 4 quest, so go ahead and torch it if you have the stats.
SPIDER LANDS:
Q: Retrieve the GIFTSs eggsack.
West of Fort Draco are the spider lands. There are two types of
intelligent spiders here: the GIFTSs, and the aranea. Go to the
northern cave, the GIFTSs home, first. Make your way NW and talk to
the spider on the hill. He'll give you a quest. Then you can do two
things here: Plug up the aranea's hole in the center of the map, and
explore the dumb spider's cave in the NE of the map. You get nothing
for doing the former, but 200c for the latter, though you have to wade
through a bunch of spiders. Afterwards, go bathe in the pool, and
leave, heading south. You'll pass the special web barriers and will
find the aranea cave. These buggers really annoy me. They're not too
difficult on normal difficulty, but above that, and you'll have to take
them on one at a time. The GIFTS's egg case is in the NW. There's a
very useful farsight scroll in the NE (save your game, use it, then
reload). In the center, there is a batch of spiders sitting around.
Kill them, then look at the rune. You'll get firebolt 3, very nice.
Head back to the GIFTS cave to get your reward: 10xp. Then search the
opened tunnel. A lot of nice treasure including a red empire pass, and
a ring of skill.
UNDEAD AND NEPHIL FORT
Far south of Fort Draco are the ruins of an old Avernum 1 fort (which
featured prominently in that game). In this fort is the altar which is
the object of the "destroy the evil altar quest" from Graham in
Formello. This fort is filled with skeletons, zombies, nephilim and
ghouls. If you have repel spirit 2 they aren't too much of a problem.
Points of interest: On the west side of the dungeon there are three
things. South there is a basilisk lair, with a nasty stone-gazing
basilisk sitting in it. North of that there is a cracked wall. Use
move mountains on it, and you'll reveal a demon. These guys aren't
easy. The best thing to do is get next to him and pound him into
kibble. Cast bind foe 1 every turn and he'll fall soon enough. Look
in the chest for a key which'll help you later. In the NW corner
there's a secret passage with a wand of ice. Head east, and kill the
nephilim around the altar. Then (u)se your special ability "Ritual of
sanctification" after getting up next to the altar (you can't hurt it
physically, nor should you have a character sit down in it). This gets
you 10 xp. North of here is a secret door with a chest containing a
blessed cloak, which is better than anything you'll get anytime soon.
East of here is a nephil chieftain. Kill him and his cronies, then go
into the nearby door. In the room with a bookcase you'll find a chest
with an ankh in it, which'll come in handy again later. Go south, and
break into the room with a bunch of nephil in it. Kill them, and you
can take their stuff. There is the very nice shielding spike (it looks
like a scalpel), you may want to give it to your mage. There's a
locked door nearby, but that'll have to wait. Go back to Formello to
claim your reward (10xp, 3 rep, ability to take scrolls).
FIRE LIZARD CAVERNS
NE of Motrax's cave are the fire lizard caverns. There's a decent
spell in here, as well as some quest items. The first floor doesn't
have too much on it, except for some fire lizard eggs in the NE. You
can grab some from across the lava, or if you have a high enough
pathfinder skill can just walk across and take them as you will. The
upper level is more interesting. There are several fire lizards here,
which can be pains in the butt, but aren't all that bad. The nearby
nest has a trapped drake's egg. Unfortunately, there's no way of
getting it without getting burned. In the NE there is a stalactite
blocking a path. Come back here again with move mountains 2 to get
some rubies. In the NW is a drake. He can be difficult if you are
unused to his attacks. Just keep binding him and he'll go down in no
time. He's guarding a shielding ring, another drake egg, and a
spellbook with Light 3. That's it for here.
TYING UP LOOSE ENDS
East of Motrax's cave, are some empire troops. They're pretty well
hidden, but after you kill them you get another red pass. In the
tunnels north of the undead fort is a special encounter which, provided
you have enough luck, will give you a crystal which teaches you the
Anatomy skill. Hold on using it for now. Solberg's fort is reachable
by boat, but there's not too much there that's worthwhile. Plus you
have to fight a bunch of nasty demons, making this an upper level area.
There's a healing spring to the east of this area, but not too much
else. Out to the far west is a ledge with a bunch of snakes on it.
You can't get there yet. Likewise there's a building near Motrax's
cave across a little lake. You'll go there later as well. There are a
few other minor things laying around, but nothing major. It's time to
head on to Chapter 2!
PREPARATION:
Q: Travel down the dangerous waters.
Drop those excess arrows, scrolls, wands and potions off in a friendly
town. No one will bother them. Drop your important food (like greens
and dried meat), and take the food you don't care too much about (the
heavy lizard haunches) with you. You'll lose all your food in this
chapter. Drop all your cheap wine, meal and ore, they play a role in a
couple of minor quest later. Get everything identified, go to the
trainer, then head towards Formello. Enter the tunnel, fight the
hydras, then hop into the boat. Go out to the island and talk to the
vahnatai, Bentis-Ka. She'll tell you to go down the river to Avit, a
vahnatai city. Take the cloaks you find in her room. They are quite
useful, though blessed cloaks are still better. There's a slime
encounter outside to the south of the island, though you don't receive
anything for killing them. Go down the river, and continue down the
two waterfalls. You may lose some food, unless-
HINT, from TIE187 on the spiderweb message boards: When going over
waterfalls, I paddle next to a waterfall, save, go over it, and if I
lose food, I reload.
This'll take you to:
********************** CHAPTER 2 ***********************
There is a lot to do here. There are no stores, very few friendly
people, and no means of training. You'll quickly find you weighed down
with a lot of junk if you don't pick things up selectively. Ditch all
the cheap stuff, you'll find enough good stuff that you'll still end up
with a tidy sum after selling all your junk at the end.
You'll be followed by a shade until the end. The second shade will
sell you healing. Follow the river till you reach a calmer section.
There's an area with rats wandering about. You can get some good
mushrooms here if you have a high enough cave lore. Only one batch is
safe. To the NW is the barrier tower, you'll come here later. Go
ahead and kill the imps, though. Nearby is a secret passage that leads
to a dead vahnatai who's holding a waveblade. Waveblades are the best
one-handed swords out there. Fine waveblades are even better. Go to
the SW, where you see a hut leading to the:
WATERY RUINS
There's not too much here other than some hydras, a few herbs, and the
necessary hexagonal rod. Pick up a couple, they're worth a tidy sum.
Now you're ready for the:
RIVER FORT:
This is one of the three main areas of chapter 2. Take your boat
around the top, and enter by water. This'll save you hassle later. Go
on the west side, kill all the undead there. There's a trapped box
with a bunch of scrolls, and a box with a blessed dagger that's guarded
by a nasty spectre. Spectres, wights, vampires and liches all drain
your experience if they hit you for damage. Kill them quickly. Use
you hexagonal rod on the wheel, and the some doors will open. Get back
in your boat, and go south, getting off to the east. You'll fight some
vahnatai. Kill them, and there's a spring which'll restore your health
a bit to the north. Go east some more and fight some more vahnatai.
Then go up and go as far NE as possible, a search for secret passages.
You'll find a trapped hall with a book at the end: This is one of the
three things you can do to make the next chapter easier. This book
also gives you +1 to mage spells, a nice deal. Go south, fighting more
vahnatai. When you get to the boat, check the southern wall for secret
passages. Kill the slime, then work your way around, and again search
the southern wall. You'll find a body with a fine waveblade and
drakeskin boots (best treasure yet!). Hop into the boat, then leave
this fort,
Some more waterfalls, and eventually you end up in a big lake. There
are two batches of hydras which, when slain and provided you have
adequate luck (4-5, from Luthien), will give you magic wands. To the
north there is a shade which will heal you for cash. To the east,
there's a secret passage leading to a gremlin grove. Stay with them.
You'll lose some food, but will get a few potions. Go north to get
some more. Usually the unidentified ones are cursed, so ditch those.
There's a minor dungeon to the east:
THE RUINED VILLA
Not too much here. In the NW there's a fire lizard guarding an
unshackling crystal in its nest. There are Ice slimes, chitrach larvae
and chitrachs here too. There's a secret passage to the north. Upon
entering the room you must fight some undead vahnatai mages, and can
then loot their treasures. You get a wand of ice, some razor disks and
potion ingredients. That's it for here. On to the second major
dungeon, the
COFFIN CAVES
Once you enter, you'll see lots of crystal coffins. Your job is to
free the vahnatai inside. There are herbs outside of this building to
the NE and SE. There are plenty of chitrach larvae, chitrach and null
bugs here. In the NE there are some barriers. You can either walk
through them or go north and use move mountains to get to the next
room. This room has a chill charm, which is quite nice, given how few
amulets you probably have. Continue south, and fight more bugs.
You'll find a dead vahnatai with a scroll on it. Pick it up. Go down
to the south, and open the door. Kill the larvae, and go west, kill
the undead vahnatai, and check the cupboard. Now you have the second
scroll. Now check the east wall of the main room for secret passages,
and get up onto the platform. Use the code you've obtained to awaken
the vahnatai (BLWLB). That's it for here.
DAHRIS-BOK'S TOMB
Follow the river some more, and eventually you'll be accosted by
Dahris-Bok. Enter the dungeon. Choose either your strongest character
(maybe Becca), or a priest who has decent strength. Some tool use
skill might also help.
HINT: There are a few occasions in which you have to select a specific
character to do a quest. This is one of them. In general, choose the
character best suited for the job (obviously). Addition from TIE187 on
the spiderweb message boards: For single PC quests, I use my
Mage/priest. I give him or her all the protection and special armor the
others wear: shielding spike, 2 or 3 amulets and jewelry, rogue
leather, lockpicks. Having your choice of Priest or Mage spells and the
large amount of mana that goes along with training in both is quite
nice. MY CAVEAT: It may not be too good an idea to load up your
character, especially if they're in an area with a lot of items you
want to pick up.
Go north into the room with four exits. The east and south are open
now. Go east and kill the monsters. You can usually kill the ghouls
and such from a distance, since they can't cross the runes, if you have
decent archery (from Zeviz on the message boards) or repel spirit.
This is pretty straightforward. When you're done, turn the wheel. Now
the east and north doors are open. You'll come to a trick set of
doors. Play around with the runes a bit and eventually all 3 doors
will open (or hit the bottom left then the top left rune). Go up and
turn the wheel. Now the north and west doors are open. Go west, and
enter the room. Check for secret doors to the east then the north, and
life will be easier. Two wheels await you, turn them both. Now go
open the east door and kill the two shades and wight. Continue east
and you'll get access to some treasure, including a call spirit ability
crystal, a cursed ring and a crystal charm. Go back south, and dump
off your treasure on the other characters, then go west through the
previously closed door. Kill everything inside, then go talk with the
crystal soul up top. Kneel, and he's happy. You can search for secret
doors on the north wall, and loot his stuff (Dahris doesn't care),
you'll get an archer ring (an improved fletcher's ring) and a fine
waveblade, but then you've got to fight some nasty undead vahnatai.
Continue on your merry way down the river. You'll eventually lose all
your food. Oh no. There's a cave to the east, you can go in it.
HYDRA LAIR
Looks like some hydras are fighting some chitrach. You can join the
carnage, or you can let the hydras get beat, then kill the weakened
chitraches. Take the meat for food. Talk to the hydras for humor.
There's no great treasures hidden in here.
Continue down the river, you're almost done. You end up at a nicer
area, and see some of those shades again. These, however, decide to
attack you. Kill them, then continue north. Some vahnatai attack you.
Kill them, and check the west wall for secret passages to get some
potions.
HINT: Secret passage tiles look a bit out of place. This is
especially noticeable here. These are hints that something different
is going on.
Go up to the tunnel to the north, and go through it, killing the
salamanders. And there, my friend, is Avit.
************************** CHAPTER 3 *************************
AVIT
Enter Avit. Bon-Ihrno, the vahnatai who spoke with you in Formello is
on the island in the bright clothes. Talk with him. Then go do the
ritual of welcoming (go left to right). You can get some herbs by
heading around the north, then maneuvering over to the west. There's
secret door in the SW house which leads to a pile of rubble in which
you can find a scroll. In the SE building, there's another secret door
that leads to a tree. Approach the tree and you'll get a key (more on
this later). That's about it for here
Head on out, and you'll run into some vahnatai. Be submissive and
you'll do fine. Head on over west to Olgai. Be nice, and you'll get
in.
OLGAI
Q: Recover the crystal souls.
Corman, in the center-west building, will identify and buy your items.
You should have plenty from the last chapter to sell. You may want to
keep 1 waveblade, 1 razordisk, 1 fine crystal, and 1 vahnatai robe for
a later quest. In the NE there's a trainer, you should also have some
skill points to spend. West of the trainer is a weaponsmith. Talk
with him and he'll hint that he threw away a steel shield. It can be
found in the SE, outside of the town walls. You have to fight 3 hydras
to get it. Also in the SW is a locked door, which you can not open
until you have Unlock 3. Now you can enter the council building, if
you've done all three things on your way to Avit (found the book,
awakened the coffins, honored Dahris-bok). If not, you'll have to do
some tests. Once you enter, the vahnatai ask to examine your mind.
Let them, and they'll take down the barriers (100xp). You'll also be
allowed to use the portal to get back to Avernum.
THE TESTS
You probably don't have to do any of these if you've been following
this walkthrough but you still get 10xp for each one you finish.
Strength- Choose either your fighter or your priest to do this one. Go
in and hack everything to kibbles. There are 2 springs hidden here
which'll give you a few HP and MP if you need them. There's also a
very nasty ruby skeleton, which is why I recommend taking the priest.
Search for secret doors and eventually you'll finish without hassle.
Speed- choose whoever has the highest tool use skill or your mage to do
this one. There's lots of quickfire, which is a pain. A few locked
doors bar your path, and you've got to turn a wheel to open a gate.
Take the lower path and ignore the goblins. If you've got enough
resistance you can just ignore the quickfire and instead grab all the
treasure to the north (it's nothing great).
Patience- Doesn't really matter who does this quest. Walk along the
path, ignore the wheel, then make it to the lever. Pull it, and pilot
it out to the water area, and take the upper path. I'll let you figure
this out, but it's not too hard. Then just keep pushing the block up
the stairs. The block won't fall off the cliff either. Move back onto
the rune, and uh oh! Just push it south through the secret door. Jump
down after it, and move it back onto the rune. That's it.
You may have a lot of money (I had >6000) and might be looking for a
way to spend it. There are two nice means of doing so. One is by
finding a vahnatai who's standing around, waiting for folks to come and
talk with him. He can be found in some ruins. He'll teach you 5
levels of Vahnatai lore for 450c each.
------------------------SPECIAL SKILL----------------------------------
Vahnatai lore- A special skill that can not be trained. This skill
will help you in a few important encounters. Get around about 10
points total, that's all you really need.
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EGLI
Q: Find a drake fang
Go to Egli (the city on the island in the lake), and find the mage in
the west to learn simulacrum and capture soul (he's the mage reading
human porn). One of the vahnatai on the east side of Egli will ask
sell you crystals- piercing, unshackling and recall are all quite
useful, shattering isn't. Buy one or two piercing crystals at the
least. From the crystal seller go west through the hall and enter the
meditation chamber. You'll find a secret door which'll lead to a
passage with several fire barriers. Walk through them, and you'll end
up in a room full of crates. Steal whatever you want, and get the
gloves in the attached room. They are nimble gloves, quite useful for
you thief. You can go out and talk with Rentar-Irhno (the cause of
this whole mess) if you want. She'll get irritated and send you to the
entrance.
MANCUSO:
Q: Slay Gaddika
Q: Slay Hydras
Mancuso is another vahnatai city in the east with some nice quests to
do. Speak with the children to find out about the empire a bit, and go
and get some quests. Tokor-Te tells you to go kill Gaddika, an evil
vahnatai to the north. I'll describe this later. You can also buy
some upper level spells from him, though you may want to wait and get
them from someplace cheaper. Aeon, a farmer outside of the city proper
will give you a kill the hydras quest. The hydras are hiding to the
north, and once killed, come back to get 10xp.
RESTING CELL 4
Q: Slay the ice hydras.
This is a very fruitful quest. It's not too difficult either. This
dungeon is located south of Mancuso. Talk with the vahnatai to the
south to get the quest. It seems as though they're having some hydra
problems. In this dungeon are hydras (both young and old), ice slimes
and ice hydras. To the SW is secret passage which leads to a bunch of
potions, to the SE is another secret passage which leads to a dead boy
with a ruby. Go north, and kill all the hydras. Don't bother with the
controls like you did earlier. That's the vahnatai's job. Go out and
tell them you're done and you'll get 20xp and a soul crystal. Now you
can use the vahnatai spells you learned in Egli.
Head on back to Olgai. There are a few more things you could do here,
but honestly, Avernum has better options at this point. Enter the
portal and you get teleported to the tower of the magi.
TOWER OF THE MAGI
Q: Kill the serpent cult
Q: Get some Fire Lizard eggs
Q: Get a drake fang
Q: Speak with Pyrn.
You end up in your chambers. Drop off your excess stuff here, if you
want. Go out the door, and south. Talk with Kelner to get the serpent
cult quest. Go east and talk with Suzanne for the fire lizard egg
quest. If you happen to have one on you, give it to her for 10xp and
the chance to use her spellbook for curing 3 (South central east- there
are 3 books there, corresponding to the quests you'll eventually do).
North and west of here are Mahdavi's chambers. She'll give you the
"speak with Pyrn" quest, which you can't take care of yet. Still,
enter the room to the east, and look in the dresser. You'll get a
code. Go way up north, and talk to the merchants. Piglet sells
alchemical recipes (including graymold- don't buy it yet, as you can
get the recipe for |
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