================================================================ A D & D - P O O L O F R A D I A N C E W A L K T H R O U G H Version 1.0 Walkthrough By Doommaster1994 Questions/Comments? E-mail me at doommaster1994@yahoo.com ================================================================= PPPP OOO OOO L P P O O O O L PPPP O O O O L P O O O O L P OOO OOO LLLLL OOO FFFFF O O F O O FFF O O F /\ OOO F || || RRRR A DDDD IIIII A N N CCC EEEEE || R R A A D D I A A NN N C C E || RRRR AAAAA D D I AAAAA N N N C EEE __||__ R R A A D D I A A N NN C C E |____| R R A A DDDD IIIII A A N N CCC EEEEE || (Whew! That took about 10-20 minutes to make.) || ====== INDEX ====== 1. Storyline 2. Already-Generated Characters 3. My Characters 4. NPCs That May Join Your Party 5. Enemies 6. Copyright 7. Places in New Phlan 8. People of New Phlan 9. Computer and NES Version Differences 10. Walkthrough a. New Phlan b. The Slums c. Sokal Keep, Thorn Island d. Mendor's Library e. Kuto's Well f. Podol Plaza g. Kovel Mansion h. Braccio's Quest i. Textile House j. Wilderness Missions 1. Nomad Camp 2. Kobold's Cave 3. Valhingen Graveyard 4. Yarash's Pyramid 5. East Marsh 6. Buccaneer Base 7. Zhentil Keep k. Stojanow Gate l. Valjevo Castle m. Tyranthraxus' Place 11. Game Ending 12. Errors In the Game 13. FAQ 14. DOS Version Cheat 15. Contacting Me 16. Credits/Special Thanks ============= 1. Storyline ============= You are commisioned by the city council to find an evil dragon known as Tyranthraxus (AKA the Boss). You are also comisioned to do other odd-jobs too. That's about it but I like this game a lot. It is my favorite game of all time. ================================ 2. Already-Generated Characters ================================ If you have been confused with what characters to make, the game Generates characters for you. Here they are and their stats: Gwydion - Human - Fighter - Lawful Evil - Male Felgar - Human - Cleric - Lawful Good - Male Goldleaf - Human - Mage (Magic-User) - Neutral Good - Male However, the game's manual gives you a party suggestion: Dwarf Fighter Human Magic-User Human Cleric Half-elf Magic-User/Cleric Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thief It also tells you what weapons to buy for them: FIGHTERS: CLERICS: THIEVES: MAGIC-USERS: Banded Mail Banded Mail Leather Armor Darts Long Sword Flail Long Sword Staff Shield Shield Short Bow Here is an experience table (taken from the manual). For those of you not familiar with AD&D, everytime you win a battle, experience points (or XP for short) are divided among all your party members. Once your characters have enough experience points, they can go to the city's Training Hall and level up their character to get more HP, learn new spells, and even lower their armor class (AC). (Mind you, I'm not the best ASCII drawer so this may look a little sloppy. Also this is my first time ever doing something like this.) Level Experience Hit Points Spells Per Level 1 2 3 _____________________________________________________________ Cleric 1 0-1,500 1-8 1 - - | 2 1,501-3,000 +1-8 2 - - | 3 3,001-6,000 +1-8 2 1 - | 4 6,001-13,000 +1-8 2 2 - | 5 13,001-27,500 +1-8 3 3 1 | 6 27,501+ +1-8 3 3 2 | _____________________________________________________________| Cleric 9-12 - - - | Wisdom 13 +1 - - | Bonus 14 +2 - - | 15 +3 +1 - | 16 +4 +2 - | 17+ +5 +2 +1 | | Note: Bonus spells are only available when the cleric is | entitled to spells of that level. For example, a 5th-level | cleric with a Wisdom of 18 can memorize the following spells:| _____________________________________________________________| Level Can Memorize | # Spells 1 5 | Per Level 2 5 | 3 2 | _____________________________________________________________| Level Experience Hit Points Spells Per Level 1 2 3 _____________________________________________________________ Magic- 1 0-2,500 1-41 1 - - | User 2 2,501-5,000 +1-4 2 - - | 3 5,001-10,000 +1-4 2 1 - | 4 10,001-22,500 +1-4 3 2 - | 5 22,501-40,000 +1-4 4 2 1 | 6 40,001-60,000 +1-4 4 2 2 | 7 60,001-90,000 +1-4 4 3 2 | 8 90,001+ +1-4 4 3 3 | _____________________________________________________________| Fighter 1 0-2,000 1-10 | 2 2,001-4,000 +1-10 | 3 4,001-8,000 +1-10 | 4 8,001-18,000 +1-10 | 5 18,001-35,000 +1-10 | 6 35,001-70,000 +1-10 | 7 70,001-125,000 +1-10 | 8 125,001+ +1-10 | _____________________________________________________________| Thief 1 0-1,250 1-6 | 2 1,251-2,500 +1-6 | 3 2,501-5,000 +1-6 | 4 5,001-10,000 +1-6 | 5 10,001-20,000 +1-6 | 6 20,001-42,500 +1-6 | 7 42,501-70,000 +1-6 | 8 70,001-110,000 +1-6 | 9 110,001+ +1-6 | _____________________________________________________________| You can have up to five of your own characters and 1 NPC total. ================= 3. My Characters ================= Here are my characters: Nicholas (Me) - Half-Elf - Fighter/Mage - Chaotic Evil - Male Goldleaf - Half-Elf - Fighter/Mage - Chaotic Evil - Female ================================= 4. NPCs That May Join Your Party ================================= Well there are places you can get NPCs: Places outside of Phlan and in the Training Hall I won't go over the Training Hall NPCs because there are too many and I have forgotten their stats Skullcrusher (Crusher) - Male - Human Level 4 Fighter He is found in the textile house. He is Councilor Cadorna's servant. Magician - Male - Human Level 6 Mage He is found in the graveyard. Reject him becuase he is really working for the vampire. Fatima - Female - Human Level 4 Fighter She can be found in the kobold's cave. She is an okay fighter but can't come with you if you leave the place. MadMan - Male - Human Level 1 Fighter HE SUCKS! He is a very poor fighter and will get you in trouble in Phlan by trying to hurt everyone within arm's length. Just ignore him. He is found in Mendor's Library. Although, if you take him to the temple near the passenger dock, they say they will treat him. So basically, the choice is up to you. Dirten - Male - Human Level 5 Cleric Braccio (AKA the Bishop) will have him join you to recover the shrine across the river. Genheeris - Male - Human Level 7 Mage OK How is he level 7? You can only go up to level 6 in this game. Well, yes his real name is Genheeris. Two Es but Genheris in gameplay because they couldn't fit enough characters in a name. He works for Tyranthraxus but will join you if you make him think his master is going to betray him. ============ 5. Enemies ============ I will give the game manual's description of the monsters (maybe I will add some of my explanations on the enemy) and then I will give it's HP so you will know how much HP it has (Special thanks to ASchultz for telling me some of the HP of the monsters). I will also give it's rarity (5 being the rarest, usually meaning you fight the enemy once unless I say otherwise.) If you see (NIM) next to the name, it means "Not In Manual", therefore I am explaining the enemies myself. AIDES (NIM): These are weak fighters, but can usually be armed with bows, so they can attack long-range without having to get near you. HP: 18 Location: New Phlan, Wilderness, Zhentil Keep Rarity: 3/5 AL-HYAM DAZID: Al-Hyam Dazid is a mage that you will fight if you battle the commandant of the buccaneer base. In the NES version, he is credited as a 6th Level MU. HP: 22 Location: Buccaneer Base Rarity: 5/5 ANKHEGS: Burrowing monster usually found in forests and farming areas. It resembles a legged worm armed with wicked mandibles and sharply hooked limbs. HP: 40 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 BANDIT (NIM): These are easy enemies. They can only be found in the wilderness. You can parley your way out of a fight, but if you want the XP or money (and sometimes some cool items), then feel free to fight them. BASILISK: A giant eight-legged lizard. Once of the most dangerous creatures in the realms because their gaze can turn characters to stone! HP: 31 Location: Mendor's Library Rarity: 5/5 BUCCANEER (NIM): These are pathetic opponents They are unbelieveably easy to take down. Usually one hit will do the job. The only one that offers an actually legitimate challenge is the one in Podol Plaza in 'The Pit' bar. HP: 4 Location: Podol Plaza, Wilderness, Buccaneer Base Rarity: 3/5 BUGBEAR: Hideous giant-sized goblin who stands over seven feet in height. Bugbears look clumsy but are strong, quick fighters with great stealth. HP: 16 Location: Slums, Stojanow Gate Rarity: 3/5 CAPTAIN (NIM): The captain is the owner of the Bucaneer Base. He will offer to sell you the boy for 35000 GP. He is a very strong fighter, in fact, he is stronger than Tyranhthraxus himself (which is actually surprising to me). HP: 110 Location: Bucaneer Base Rarity: 5/5 CENTAUR: These good creatures are half men and half horse. They are capable fighters and can be valuable allies. (Really? Then why don't they help you anywhere in the game?!) HP: 20 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 CLERICS (NIM): You will find clerics throughout the game. One will be an optional fight in Phlan if you kill the guards and go to the temple on the bottom left of the Area map. Thankfully you barely battle any of these guys. HP: 1st Level: 8 2nd Level: 8 5th Level: 29 7th Level: 42 Location: New Phlan, Training Hall, Valjevo Castle Rarity: 3/5 COMMANDANT (NIM): This is the guy who runs Zhentil Keep. He is not a friendly guy so I would highly suggest not battling him unless it's for the experience points and your characters are highly trained. Plus, he's got 20 more HP than Tyranthraxus. HP: 100 Location: Zhentil Keep Rarity: 5/5 CORPORAL (NIM): These guys are pretty much the 'police' of Phlan. They are easy to kill and they are not much of a challenge. HP: 13 Location: New Phlan Rarity: 4/5 DIANE (NIM): These are just weaker mages. They are found in a secret section of Yarash's pyramid. Their portrait look ridiculously funny in the MS-DOS version. HP: 21 Location: Yarash's Pyramid DISPLACER BEASTS: Six-legged puma-like creature with two ebony tentacles growing from behing its shoulders. This beast has the magical ability to displace its image about three feet from it's actual body, making it an especially tricky opponent. HP: 30 Location: Wilderness, Yarash's Pyramid Rarity: 3/5 DRIDER: A strange mix with the torso, arms and head of a drow elf, and the lower body of a spider. This horror is the wicked counterpart of a centaur. (According to my AD&D monster manual, the drow elves had to take a test by their godess and if they passed it, they would become drow elves but if they failed, this horrible looking abomination would be their result. Cool! I wish I was a Drider! Also, watch out, sometimes their arrows are deadly!) HP: 36 Location: Wilderness, Yarash's Pyramid Rarity: 3/5 EFREET: A large, powerful genie from the elemental plane of fire. They are very arrogant and will only serve a powerful master. (Ha! Not really. Samir Awohl (Name of the Genie in this game) will serve just about anyone.) HP: 55 Location: Kobold Cave Rarity: 5/5 ENVOY (NIM): The two Envoys guard the king. They say they will show you how a real warrior fights, and they aren't joking, they are definitely not to be taken lightly. HP: 45 Location: Kobold Cave Rarity: 5/5 ETTIN: These creatures look like giant two-headed orcs. They have great strength and usually wield two spiked clubs that inflict terrible damage in combat. (Stink Cloud all the way to get rid of these nasties. Thankfully, you only have to battle four of them in the entire game.) HP: 50 Location: Stojanow Gate Rarity: 5/5 FIGHTERS (NIM): There are a LOT of these guys. You will have to fight the strongest ones to get to the final boss. HP: 3rd Level: 18 4th Level: 30 5th Level: 39 6th Level: 45 7th Level: 62 7th Level (Dwarf): 50 8th Level: 87 Location: New Phlan, Stojanow Gate, Valjevo Castle, Wilderness, Yarash's Pyramid, Zhentil Keep Rarity: 3/5 FIRE GIANT: These wicked giants have flaming red hair and are immune to all fire attacks. They usually attack with giant two-handed swords. (Um, yeah, not the best enemies to fight with. They make the Hill Giants look like kobolds!) HP: 59 Location: Valjevo Castle Rarity: 4/5 GIANT FROG (Poisonous Frog in-game): These are giant carnivorous frogs. They are fast, dangerous predators that may be poisonous. (No they aren't, actually, they are probably the easiest enemy in the game.) HP: 4 Location: Sokal Keep, Textile House Rarity: 3/5 GIANT LIZARD: These are the giant cousins of the common lizard. HP: 16 Location: Kuto's Well, Wilderness, Lizardmen's Castle Rarity: 3/5 GIANT MANTIS: These are the giant version of the common mantis. These creatures are fast, strong, and have tough natural armor. HP: 55 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 4/5 GIANT SNAKE: These are giant poisonous snakes. (Tell me something I don't know!) HP: 25 Location: Wilderness, Valjevo Castle Rarity: 3/5 GHOUL: These are vile undead whose touch may paralyze a man in combat. They feed on slain bodies and attack all living creatures on sight. (Hey, at least they don't drain levels like some other undead monster I know... *cough*WIGHTS!*cough*.) HP: 10 Location: Textile House, Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 3/5 GNOLL: These creatures are hyena-headed humanoids who stand over seven feet tall. (And they're very poor fighters.) HP: 10 Location: Slums, Kuto's Well, Wilderness, Valjevo Castle Rarity: 2/5 GOBLIN: These are small humanoids common in the Realms. HP (Guard): 4 (Leader): 7 Location: Slums, Podol Plaza Rarity: 3/5 GUARD: These are the weakest human enemies in the game, but beware, they can be armed with a bow to attack long-range, but they can easily be put to sleep or paralyzed. Only bad thing is that in Zhentil Keep, they come in huge packs and sometimes with Aides. HP: 4 Location: Wilderness, Zhentil Keep Rarity: 4/5 HILL GIANT: These are one of the smaller, more stupid giants, but they are still tough opponents. They usually carry large clubs. (Ha! I remember when I first encountered these guys, they're face scared me to death. I actually had nightmares about it once while I was asleep, but that's a different story.) HP: 41 Location: Valjevo Castle Rarity: 3/5 HIPPOGRIFF: These magnificent creatures have the forelimbs and head of an eagle and the body and hind legs of a horse. (Then why do they have the word 'Hippo' in their name? And, uh, oh yeah, they make great pets!) HP: 18 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 HOBGOBLIN: These are human-sized, intelligent relatives of the goblin. (Not!) HP: 6 (Grishnak): 24 Location: Slums, Textile House Rarity: 3/5 KOBOLD: These are small, cowardly humanoids who delight in pain and torture. HP (Regular): 3 (Leader): 4 Location: Slums, Kuto's Well, Mendor's Library, Podol Plaza, Wilderness Kobold Cave, Yarash's Pyramid Rarity: 1/5 LIZARDMAN: These are lizard-like humanoids. They are omnivorous but they have a particular fancy for humans. Location: Kuto's Well, Wilderness, Lizardmen's Castle HP: (Lizardman): 11 (Mutant Lizardman): 18 Location: Kuto's Well, Wilderness, Yarash's Pyramid Rarity: 3/5 MACE (NIM): Mace is the leader of the shrine across the river. He has some nasty followers. HP: 25 Location: Shrine of Bane Rarity: 5/5 MAGIC-USERS (NIM): Magic-Users are also known as MU or Mage. If you've played D&D before, you should know that they are able to cast spells. The only bad side to having them in your party is that they have very low HP, thus making them easy to get killed. HP: 3rd Level: 9 5th Level: 20 6th Level: 23 Rarity: 4/5 MEDUSA: Hideous women-creatures with coiling masses of snakes for hair. They can turn a person to stone with their gaze. HP: 30 Location: Tyranthraxus' Lair Rarity: 5/5 MERCHANT: These are traders. They are sometimes armed with bows and arrows, but if you parley, you can avoid attacks with them since they are good. HP: 6 MINOTAUR: A huge creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man. These creatures stand over eight feet tall, and are dangerous foes. HP: 33 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 MUMMY: These are powerful undead with great strength. The mere sight of one has been known to paralyze a character in combat. The touch of the mummy causes a strange rotting disease. HP: 33 Location: Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 5/5 NORRIS THE GRAY (NIM): Norris owns Kuto's Well. When you beat him, the well is yours (and Phlan's). Taking him down is neccesary while you're battling him. HP: 25 Location: Kuto's Well Rarity: 5/5 NYMPH: These are extremely beautiful creatures that appear as ever-young females. They usually inhabit wild lakes in streams. (Note: I have never, EVER came across these enemies, but if you do, please send me an e-mail.) HP: ?? Location: ??? Rarity: ?/5 OGRE: These are large, foul-tempered, ugly humanoids. They are strong fighters. HP: (Ogre): 21 (Ogre Leader): 32 Location: Slums, Podol Plaza, Sokol Keep Rarity: 3/5 OHLO (NIM): Ohlo is a wizard who lives in the Slums. He asks you to get a potion in the rope guild that he is not able to get for some reason. You can start a fight with him but be warned, it's not easy. HP: 9 ORC: These are vicious, pig-faced humanoids. HP: (Orc): 5 (Leader): 8 Location: Slums, Podol Plaza Rarity: 2/5 PHASE SPIDER: A giant spider with the magical ability to "phase out" after it attacks. This power, combined with its venomous attack, makes it a great danger. (Note: These are EXTREMELY rare to find. I've only found them 2 or 3 times out of the millions of times I've played this game.) HP: 35 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 4/5 QUICKLING: These are small, fast-moving creatures. Because of their great speed they are invisible when they move. HP: 7 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 SKELETON: These are the least of the undead. Skeletons are usually controlled by some wicked force. HP: (Skeleton): 5 (Giant Skeleton): 24 Location: Sokal Keep, Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 2/5 SPECTRE: These are one of the most powerful of the undead. Their touch can drain the life out of character. (Note: Don't you mean "A character"?) HP: 38 AC: 2 Location: Mendor's Library, Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 4/5 STIRGE: These are small, blood-sucking birds. HP: 5 Location: Wilderness, Yarash's Pyramid Rarity: 2/5 SUB-CAPTAIN (NIM): Sub-captains are a soldier that usually lead other warriors. HP: 18 Location: Wilderness, Zhentil Keep Rarity: 4/5 THRI-KREEN: Also called Mantis Warriors, this creature resembles a large praying mantis. They possess tough natural armor, cunning, and great agility. HP: 33 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 TIGER: These are noble beasts who are both strong and silent. Though their normal prey are animals, they have been known to become "man-eaters." HP: 38 Location: Wilderness Rarity: 3/5 TROLL: Ravenous horrors found in almost all climates and locales. They attack with their dirty, clawed hands and must be slain quickly because they regenerate hit points. HP: 36 Location: Slums, Wilderness, Kobold Cave, Valjevo Castle Rarity: 4/5 TYRANTHRAXUS (Not in manual): Also known as "The Boss", This is the guy who runs the show around these parts. He doesn't only want to conquer Phlan, but rather the whole Moonsea region (And probably the whole world.) Even though he is a dragon in this game, his true form is a spirit, which you will fight in this game's sequel, Curse of the Azure Bonds. HP (Fake): 40 (Real): 80 Location: Valjevo Castle, Tyranthraxus' Lair Rarity: 5/5 VAMPIRE: These are one of the most dreaded undead in the Realms. They can drain life levels, are strong fighters and are sometimes powerful to magic users. (Note: You will battle him the second time in the room shaped like a cross.) HP: (First Encounter): 43 (Second Encounter): 15 Location: Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 5/5 WARDOG: These are large, strong dogs, trained for battle. Orcs, goblins and other humanoids are known to use them. (Note: Again, like the Nymph, I have never ONCE found these enemies in the game. If you happen to, though, please send me an e-mail.) HP: ?? Location: ??? Rarity: ?/5 WIGHT: Nightmarish undead creatures that attack with vicious claws and are immune to all except silver or magical weapons. (Note: They also drain levels when they hit you.) HP: 23 Location: Textile House, Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 4/5 WILD BOAR(IV): These creatures are the wild relatives of the pig. (Note: Also after you kill them they "Get Back Up" and fight. Luckily, they are still relatively easy to take down.) HP: 18 Location: Wilderness, Kobold Cave Rarity: 3/5 WOLF: Large canine meat-eaters, found in nearly all parts of the Realms. (Note: You only fight these once. That is when you are battling the first encounter with the Vampire.) HP: 18 Location: Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 5/5 WRAITH: A powerful undead spirit that absorbs characters' life energy. These creatures steal levels from characters. The stolen levels can be regained by earning new experience, or have a Restoration spell cast at a shrine. (Note: You fight this guy once in the graveyard and it's an optional fight. when you encounter him he says "I am guard this body".) HP: 24 AC: 4 Location: Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 5/5 WYVERN: These creatures are distant relatives of dragons. They attack by biting and using the poisonous sting in their tail. (Note: You will HAVE to fight one of these in the Kobold Cave at the beginning and trust me, it is NOT fun.) HP: 42 Location: Wilderness, Kobold Cave Rarity: 4/5 ZOMBIE: Magically animated bodies controlled by a wicked force. Zombies always fight back until destroyed or turned. HP (Zombie): 10 HP (Juju Zombie): 24 AC (Juju Zombie): 6 Location: Valhingen Graveyard Rarity: 2/5 (If there are any monsters or enemies that I have missed please let me know!) ============= 6. Copyright ============= THIS GUIDE IS © DOOMMASTER1994!!! As me being the owner of this guide, please e-mail me so you can tell me where you are going to post it. If not, there just so happens to be a thing called copyright infringement, and, yeah, you don't want to go there. Trust me. ======================= 7. Places in New Phlan ======================= There are lots of places in Phlan: PASSENGER DOCK - Well, this is where you start and meet Rolf (The tour guide of New Phlan). It is also where you can travel to a few different places. TAVERNS/BARS - be careful in these places for numerous reasons... ARMS/ARMOR SHOP - This is where you want to go to get gear. SILVER SHOP - This is where you buy more expensive, yet stronger weapons. SHOP - Useless place, there is nothing here that you really need. INN - This is where you rest and save your game. 5 Gold Pieces to rest. SHRINES - There are 3 shrines in Phlan: Tempus, Tyr, and Sune. This is the place you want to go to if something awfully bad happens to one of your characters or NPCs (Non-Player Characters). TRAINING HALL - This is where you can hire some NPCs or Duel, or train to a higher level. You can also save your game there. CITY HALL - The most important place in the game. This is where you get commisions and rewards. CITY PARK - There is nothing here. STOJANOW RIVER - Now called the "Dirty Barren River" because of it's contamination. But you will take care of that later on in the game. THE SLUMS (Old Phlan) - This is the real Phlan but it got overrun by monsters. That is why it is your first commision. ======================= 8. People of New Phlan ======================= CITY COUNCIL - The woman who gives you the commisions in the City Hall. CITY GUARDS - Basically, the police of Phlan. You don't want to fight them... TEMPLE CLERICS - The guys that are in each New Phlan temple. SHOPKEEPER - This guy is useless. I don't know why they put his shop in this game. JEWELER - Yes. For the girls, (who I bet would never want to play AD&D) is a jewelry shop. ARMORER - The guy who runs the arms and armor shops. There is one that is open all day. ======================================== 9. Computer and NES Version Differences ======================================== 1. In the NES version, your only currency is Gold and Gems, but in the computer versions, you get Electrum, Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Gems and Jewelry. Also, in the NES version, you're allowed to carry as much Gold as you please, while in the computer version, you're limited as to how much money each one of your characters can carry, which is represented by their Encumbrance which can be seen if you view the character. 2. This is an upside to the NES version; In the NES version, you have infinite darts and arrows (and maybe some other missile objects I don't know about) while in the PC version, you must constantly go to the stores and buy ammunition. Usually you will find arrows from battles from enemies that use them. 3. Another upside to the NES version is that in the computer versions after a battle where the enemies have weapons, you're always asked if you want to pick up those weapons. 4. Some doors in the computer versions are locked, forcing you to either cast a Knock spell or to pick or bash open the door. This is very annoying because near the beginning of the game where you have to go to Mendor's Library, the door REQUIRES a Knock spell to open it. Same thing goes with the temple in Podol Plaza. 5. In the computer versions, all the text and dialogue is all on one screen, while in the NES version, the game has to scroll down to view text and dialogue. It probably was a good idea though since if they made the text take up more of the screen, the first-person perspective would have to be smaller, making the graphics look worse. 6. In the NES version, you're strictly limited to how many kinds of characters you can create (For example, you can't create a Fighter/Magic-User/Cleric) and you can't customize how their character portrait or how their icon looks in combat while you could in the computer versions, but the NES version also had a bigger variety of character portraits to choose from. It's just too bad they are assigned to a certain alignment, race, etc. 7. Some of the NES version's maps have been slightly altered, Plus there are some places where the Area map will work in the computer version where it won't in the NES version. 8. This is an extremely minor one, but the NES version has the NPCs names shortened, like Skullcrusher's name is shortened to Crusher, and Princess Fatima's name is shortened to just Fatima. 9. Here's an important one, since disks could be copied and there weren't any files to protect it, the developers of the computer versions made Copy Protection, where at the beginning of the game, you must use a 'Translation Wheel' and write the word that the game asks you for. You match up an Elvish and Dwarvish letter/number. Also, in the game, a lot of parts of the game will tell you that you write something down as Journal Entry (insert number here). This was another part of copy protection, and the journal entries can be found in the 'Adventurers Journal' that came with the game. Since the NES version was cartridge based and developed using private tools, the NES didn't have to worry about copy protection, so you'll see the so-called 'Journal Entries' can be seen in the game itself, rather than going into the manual to read them. You also don't have to translate anything in the NES version, while in the computer versions, you would have to translate dwarvish and elvish letters/numbers to get through some of the game, again, another form of copy protection. =============== 10. Walkthrough =============== Tyranthraxus has overrun Phlan and other places around it. Your job is to take everything back that was once good but is now evil. Then, only then will you complete the tragedy. ============= a. New Phlan ============= After you create your party or take the characters automatically generated from the game itself, you will get a message of how you arrive Phlan by boat and how a man draws near. The man is Rolf, Phlan's Tour Guide. He will show you the dock (Where you start), the Temple, the Training and City Halls, the park, and the monster-infested Slums of Phlan. Then he leaves you and the game tells you that you are on your own now. Let's go to the City Hall. If you forget where it is or another place is, just use the "Area" map. Well the council checks to see if she owes you something EVERY time you see her, well let's see what she wants us to do: A. Win back the Slums B. Win back Sokal Keep C. Get all the books we can about Phlan in the old times. That means we must go to: ============= b. The Slums ============= MISSION - Kill the leaders. REWARD FOR CLEARING - Council reward, sleep in Slums free. NPC ENCOUNTERS - None MONSTERS - Bugbear,Hobgoblin, Kobold, Kobold Leader, Gnoll, Goblin, Goblin Leader, Ohlo, Ogre, Shopkeep When you first enter, the game states how large creatures run underneath your feet and how you can hear an alarm sound far away. Well you will encounter monsters at random times, so you never know whether you will run into monsters or not. If you encounter them, try to talk nice with them (Parley). Let's go into the room in the Northeast corner. Then the room inside of that to find Orcs fighting over some stacks of paper. ============= Orc Battle 1 ============= MONSTERS - Orc, Orc Leader This battle is a fairly easy one. If your mages have memorized "Sleep" then cast it on them to make the job easier. Collect the treasure that they leave. Now there is a room just west of the room you are in right now. There is a Goblin Leader teaching younger goblins to fight. When you are seen, the teacher says that their classmates or something have arrived. ================ Goblin Battle 1 ================ MONSTERS - Goblin, Goblin Leader Well, this is an easier battle. Just keep hitting them and you should win. Remember to try and make it to the inn and rest. Also remember to save your game. Now go back into the Slums, for we have much work to do still. Find a room nearby (2x2 room) where the game says it reeks. Go into the room north of it (1x2 room) where the game says there is evidence of a "Large Untidy Animal". Go to the menu and select "Look" and find a leather bag. There is treasure in there. Now if you find a 1x1 room, go in there if you want. There is a gypsy who will read your fortune. Well, to save you money, I will tell you what she says if you pay her. She says there is a labyrinth and monsters, and that the mosters are all around you and you can't kill her. On this version of Pool of Radiance when she is done, she falls and waves you away. If you kill her, the game says how you feel that you have made a "Grae Error", but I haven't seen any effect down the road so I guess its okay to kill her if you want. Anyway, go into the room on the other side of the gypsy's room. There is an Orc who says "This is our house! Go away!". But seriously, are you really going to give up like that? Of course you aren't so let's finish: ============= Orc Battle 2 ============= MONSTERS - Orc, Orc Leader Another Orc battle. Just use the methods I gave you from the first one and you should win. Now take what is left behind. Remember, you can drop your items or sell them to the shops in New Phlan if you are too full on stuff to carry. Now travel to the northwest corner of this room to find a wall. Wow how interesting. Yes it is because it is really an illusionary wall that has treasure. Now go to the room right under it and get yourself into a: ================= Hobgoblin Battle ================= This is kind of hard but just use Sleep and win over the Hobgoblins. Then get your reward. Now go down find your way to a room over the northeastern corner of the rope guild to find a man named Ohlo. He will tell you to go in the rope guild and collect a potion that he hasn't been able to get. Don't pick a fight with him. Trust me, you don't want to make him angry. Besides, he's good, not evil. Go inside the rope guild. It is the very bottom division of the Slums. After you enter, you can NOT use the area map. That's probably why the game says "few who enter never return..." I am afraid you are on your on on this one. The place you are supposed to go is in the northeastern corner (a 1x1 room) which is a store. You WILL encounter monsters. Anyway, when you reach the shop, the clerk will tell you his shop is closed. Just talk to him and he will give you the potion. Don't fight him. He has some good allies. After you return to Ohlo, just give him the potion for a good reward. Great job! But there is still work to do. Now go into rooms you haven't went into. But make sure you go to the room next to the room in which the goblin was teaching younger goblins, now you will come face to face with... ============== Kobold Battle ============== MONSTERS - Kobold, Kobold Leader Fight them. No magic is needed for these guys. They are very easy. After you take their reward, go back into the bottom section of the Slums. Now find a room in which you battle the monster guards! ===================== Monster Guard Battle ===================== MONSTERS - Goblin, Goblin Leader, Orc, Ogre This is where the going gets tough and the tough gets going. Use as many sleep spells as you can. Yes, this is your first battle with an Ogre. To kill the Ogre, I suggest using your fighter. Now, have your mages put the Orc, and Goblins to sleep. Then you can focus on the Ogre. You will get a BIG reward, but not enough to get trained. Now go to the west side of the Slums to have an encounter that says a monster is in your way. ================= Semi-Boss Battle ================= MONSTERS - Same as last battle. All you need to do is do what you did last time. Now follow the way into the door to meet the leaders. ======================= BOSS - Monster Leaders ======================= MONSTERS - Gnoll, Ogre, Hobgoblin Kill the monsters in this order: Ogre, Gnoll, and Hobgoblin to win the battle and a huge reward. Well, to be honest, there is just one more battle. This is going to be hard: Go back into the rope guild and this time take the right passage. Find a room with monsters throwing sacks. We're having fun then WHOOPS! Monster: (crying) my sack ripped. What can I use now? Troll: You have those guys (YOUR PARTY) ==================== ACTUAL Final Battle ==================== MONSTERS - Kobolds, Trolls The hardest battle. Trolls can kill one of your party members within one attack. If you have a bow or a wand of Magic Missle or Fireball, use it on the trolls. Oh yeah, I forgot, you know what makes things easier for you? The trolls can revive. I was joking on how it was good. Anyway, after the battle, you get a HUGE reward. Now let's go back to Phlan since there are no more monsters to kill and now you have a place to rest at for free. Now go to Phlan and get your reward. ============================= b. Sokal Keep (Thorn Island) ============================= MISSION - Find Ferran Martinez's spirit and tell him the truth. REWARD FOR CLEARING - Reward from Council, Go to wilderness by boat. NPC ENCOUNTERS - None MONSTERS - Zombie, Skeleton, Poisonous Frogs, Ogre, Orc, Scorpion Well, it looks as if we have been assigned by the council to go to Sokal Keep on Thorn Island. First, if you haven't tried yet, train your characters. THEN we will go. OK let's go to Sokal Keep now. The boatman (Rolf?) says that the ships can only go to Sokal Keep. Now go to the end of the dock to catch the boat. When you first arrive, go to the northwest corner of the room. You will find an elven skeleton. Search it to find a scroll with some words on it. Now you can avoid fights with the undead patrol if you talk to them. Head over to the northeastern corner door. The game states that the croak of frogs greet your entry. Take two steps to fight with Poisonous Frogs... ====================== Poisonous Frog Battle ====================== Poisonous Frogs are easy to kill even though they are big. They rarely poison your character and rarely hit. There is a good chance in "Slain"ing them (That means they're actually dead, rather than just being 'unconscious'). After the fight, go through the door and go to the northeastern corner of the next room to find an illusionary wall. When you first enter, the game states how something is in the Southwest corner. All it is, is a lamp and something dangling from it. Look around the room to find some cool stuff. Now get out of the room and find another door in the west. Keep going forward and walk around a few times to find "Shadows" that are moaning. Talk to them if you read the words from the scroll. The game won't let you kill them. The spirits say that they were the guards of the keep. Then show you Ferran's diary. Now its time for the final battle, and you can't rest if you were wondering because you keep getting interrupted by the skeletons. Go back out the door and turn right. Now go forward and BOOM! You hear a loud crash through the wall. Time to kick monster butt. ===================== BOSS - Ogre and Orcs ===================== MONSTERS - Ogre, orc You are surrounded by a bunch of orcs and two ogres. First, go after the ogres. Since you are at a new level of XP you should be able to get the job done easier. Cast Sleep on the Orcs so you can focus on the ogres. Then kill all the Orcs and TADAH! After the battle you find a note in the one of the Ogre's pocket. It is from Tyranthraxus (How can a dragon write?) that says to kill your party if you came. Now go through the door ahead of you and keep going forward until WHO THE HECK IS THS GUY!? That is Ferran Martinez. Even though his last name sounds Spanish or Mexican, he looks Asian (Not trying to sound racist). Tell him the truth. If you didn't search the elf skeleton, you can't communicate with him. He will cry too and disappear. BUT that doesn't mean you can't change that. If he disappears he will come back. Just re-enter the room. After you talk to him your mission is complete! Now let's go get our reward from the council. If you want to do something a little extra, you can go to the left section of the keep. Go to the middle-left room and insects will fall from the walls and ceiling onto you. =============== Scorpion Sting =============== Here you'll be put up with a few scorpions. Scorpions are deadly because like in real life, they can be poisonous, and in this game, one could poison your character, which if that happens, your character automatically dies. Sometimes if you're lucky, your character won't get poisoned when they get hit. But the risk of getting poisoned is a good reason not to try this battle, and the amount of XP you get isn't worth it. ==================== d. Mendor's Library ==================== MISSION - Collect all the books needed in the Library REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - Madman MONSTERS - Basilisk, Kobold, Mendor's Spectre This place can be located south of Kuto's Well. Luckily in this version of Pool of Radiance, you don't need to knock the doors. You can just enter. You can rest here if you'd like. In the southeastern corner is Madman. He is saying all this weird stuff like "HE IS NOT A HUMAN AT ALL I TELL YOU!" or "HE IS WRAPPED IN FIRE AND SO MEAN!". If you take him with you, you'd better watch out in Phlan because he will attack anyone he can get his hands on and then YOU get in trouble from the guards. If you take him to the Temple near the passenger dock, the clerics there will take care of him. Anyway, there is a garden in this place. In this version, you can't go in but you can on the other versions. All you do is get hurt. Anyways, in some rooms if you select either the "Search" of "Look" option, you can find some stuff. Well, now let's talk about what we really should be doing here. Find 1x1 rooms in the top part of the library. Those are where you get the books. If you go to the north western one, with the section PHILOSOPHY, you'd better be prepared for a battle with a basilisk. ================ Basilisk Battle ================ Basilisks as you may know can turn your party to stone. If you bought a mirror from the shop, you could be lucky. The mirrors protect you from turning to stone. The basilisk has quite big HP. Sleep won't work on them. use stink cloud to make the baslisk weaker. It may take a few tries but you can do it. After you defeat the basilisk, keep using the "Look" option to look for books you need. Do it for ALL the sections until you can't find anymore. Now try to exit until you meet Mendor's Ghost who says "Thieves! I will guard these tomes with my very life!". One of your party members will ask him how he can guard the books with his life when he's lost his life. Then the battle will start. ====================== BOSS - Mendor's Ghost ====================== Well, obviously, Mendor won't take kindly to book stealing. He is very hard for two reasons: 1. He can drain levels because he's a Spectre 2. It is near impossible to hit him without a wand You will need a wand to kill him unless you have a magical weapon. If you are level one and Mendor hits you, you might as well kiss one of your party members goodbye because he slains them. And it takes 55,000 Gold to ressurect dead party members. Wands will ALWAYS hit him. Plus, they're long range so you have some distance between you and the ghost. After the battle, head back to Phlan to get your reward. That's it! You have completed Mendor's Library, the place is now yours to rest and read. =============== e. Kuto's Well =============== MISSION - Find and kill Norris the Gray MONSTERS - Orc, Ogre, Norris, Lizardman, Gnoll, Kobold, Giant Lizard, Goblin? Well, even though the council doesn't commision it to you, you will get a reward for completing it. Kuto's well is west of the Slums. Remember, since you completed the Slums, you can rest there for FREE before you go to Kuto's Well. And NO we are not going to the wilderness even though we can because we are not ready yet. In the area map, the well is the 3x3 tiled square. If you try to go into the well, first you will have to deal with two rounds of Kobolds. ============== Kobold Fights ============== MONSTERS - Kobold, Kobold Leader Well, I don't think you need help for this one. All you need for this one is pure sword. No magic needed. After the second battle, you can go into the well. When you first make your first move inside the well, you will get shot by a Kobold. Now, there are two ways to find Norris: Rest, or find out where he's hiding in this place. When you encounter him, he gives you a choice: Surrender or die. Are we going to just let him talk to us like that? No. That's why we are going to destroy... =============================== Norris the Gray and His Guards =============================== MONSTERS - Norris, Ogre, Orc, Goblin? First, focus on the Ogres. Then kill Norris. Cast a Sleep or Stink Cloud spell whenever possible on the Orcs. Norris obviously can do some damage to you and your party. But with any luck, you will complete the fight. Now go to the northeast corner of the well to find Norris' treasure. Now climb out of the well. Now go to the bottom of this area. Look around for a locked door guarded by Lizardmen and Giant Lizards. We HAVE to find out what's in that door. =================== Lizardmania Battle =================== Lizardmen are hard, but not as bad as trolls luckily. Just cast Stink Cloud on them. The lizards can't really do any harm. After the battle, collect your treasure and go through the door (You must pick it first) to find a woman. She tells you a "Wicked One" (Tyrannthraxus) has come out of the pool and that you cannot recognize him at a glance, BEWARE! And then before you can say a word, she disappears. Now go to the menu and select "Look" to find treasure. NOW we can go back and get our reward. Now let's see what's next on the list, because we are far from over. =============== f. Podol Plaza =============== MISSION - Find out what kind of weapon is being sold at the auction. REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - None MONSTERS - Ogre, Orc, Goblin, Bucaneer (4th Lvl Fighter) Now the council commisions you to go to Podol Plaza to see an auction. Podol Plaza can be located west of Kuto's Well. When you enter you have 3 choices on how to get in. Choose to disguise yourself as monsters. The auction is on the left side of the 1x3 room. it is in the middle of the plaza. You will encounter an Ogre auctioneer. He is holding a "Wand of Fear" and says he doesn't need it anymore. Just watch or else you will start a fight and fail the mission. If you want to do another mission in this place, go into the bar aka The Pit. It is on the west and is a 2x3 room. When you enter, you will accidentaly knock the door into a drunk buccaneer aka 4th level fighter. He says that one of you will pay for the insult. If you want to start a HUGE fight then start one. For once, the goblins will join your side. ================= Buccaneer Battle ================= This fight will be kind of hard, because you will be dealing with a 4th Level Fighter. You'll also be fighting a ton of orcs, but with the goblins on your side, you should get the job done a little easier. Use Sleep and Stink Cloud spells to knock the enemies down. After the fight, the game will say the bar is a shattered ruin. Now go back to Phlan for your reward. ================= g. Kovel Mansion ================= MISSION - Defeat all the thieves in the mansion REWARD - Reward from Council NPC ENCOUNTERS - None MONSTERS - Thieves (1 and 4th level) You are now supposed to go to Kovel Mansion and stop the thieves. To get to the mansion, take a boat north and go to the south gate. When you first enter, keep going straight. On the Area Map if you see a hallway in the southeast corner., go into it and encounter a 4th level thief. He will try to attempt to kill one of your party members with a knife. Sometimes he will succeed, other times, you catch him. Now go into the first room on the right and see some thieves beating up an older thief. One of them will say "What are you doing here?". By the way, you can't rest here or your inventory will be stolen and you will get hurt. ============= Thief Battle ============= This battle is easy, just kill all the 1st level thieves and win. After that, the older thief tells you he is going to die. He tells you about Tyranthraxus and then he dies. You then pick up a peice of paper. That tells even more info on Tyranthraxus. Now exit the hallway and enter the 2x3 room at the south of this place. Now the thieves spring an ambush: ================== Thief Army Battle ================== This battle is tough. There will be hundreds of thieves. Luckily, 90% of them are 1st Level. Unfortionatley, there are about 4 4th level thieves. Cast Sleep and Stink Cloud on them to hold them. Or use Hold Person if you have a cleric in your party. Now return to phlan and get your reward by taking one of the boats in the wilderness. =================== h. Braccio's Quest =================== MISSION - Recover the Temple of Bane REWARD - No council reward, reward in temple NPC ENCOUNTERS - Dirten MONSTERS - Orc, Mace, Ogre You are now commisioned to go see the bishop of the city: Braccio. He is located at the temple near the dock. At the temple, go to the area map and discover a 1x1 room in the middle of the temple. That is where he is. He will show you his worker, Dirten. You must let Dirten join to start your quest. If you say no, he just waits until you accept. If you have 6 characters you will have to sacrifice an NPC you have or one of your characters. Personally, I would select an NPc to leave because your own characters are going to be needed later. Now go into the wikderness and take the east gate. Then proceed west, hoping you don't encounter anything. If you come across orcs kill them to get a Bane nacklace (You will need it). Now go into the next area and try finding an enterance into the temple which is the hugest place in the area and you will find a blind orc that will try to touch you. This is where you will need the Bane necklace. If you don't have it you will have to battle some orcs. After that enter the temple and go to the back of the temple. Now you can't turn back. You will find a podium (or a stage) and one of your characters will mention felling ill. Destroy it and find Mace and his army charging after you! ============ Mace Battle ============ OK my tip to you is to use any paralyzing spells like sleep, stink cloud and other stuff like that. Aim after the ogres and orcs first. Then deal with Mace. Then collect your treasure. Now Braccio will call for Dirten and Dirten says everything in the temple is yours. To find the treasures, use Search mode and look in every corner of the temple and find a trap door. Open it to get treasure! Now go back and tell the council. She will tell you that she thinks the treasure in the temple was enough. If you have enough experience, go back to the training hall and get a higher level. ================= i. Textile House ================= MISSION - To save Skullcrusher and get Cadorna's treasure. REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - Skullcrusher (Crusher in gameplay) MONSTERS - Poisonous Frogs, Ghoul, Wight, Grishnak (Goblin Boss), Scorpion, Hobgoblin, Hobgoblin Leader, Skeleton. Now Councilor Cadorna will want to talk to you, so go meet him in the city hall. The Textile House can be located south of Podol Plaza. This place has a lot of dangerous enemies. Make sure you avoid them. I forgot, you can't because most of the monsters are random encounters. Head south and keep going down south until the game says you hear a drum somewhere and hobgoblins attack you. Or, there is an alternative to skipping the battle. On the left of the area map, you will see a 1x1 room at the top left. Go there and you will find a hole that says "Thieves Only" on it. If you have a thief, have him climb down and then a thief named Restal will appear. Let him blindfold you and there you go. If you don't have a thief, then it will turn to... ================= Hobgoblin Battle ================= Think of this as a minor setback of the hobgoblin encounter in the slums. You can cast Sleep spells or Hold Person spells on them and they will be held. This will make you win the fight. Now go to the Area map and look for a 2x2 room. If Restal took you, just head to the left. Since there are is another 4x4 looking room with it (1x2 rooms put together), look for a 1x1 room near the bottom of the Area map and the room is to the 1x1 room's left. Now, enter the room. When you do, the game will state that it is the sanctuary of some dark force. Then one of your characters will imply that he feels sick. Then an old hobgoblin named Grishnak will see you and she (yes, she) will be mad that you interrupted her ceremony. And then it leads to... ================ Grishnak Battle ================ Grishnak won't be easy to kill, as she has some goblins by his side. Have your fighters and mages (magic-users) hit the hobgoblins. Have your fighters then go up to Grishnak and Slice-And-Dice her. Grishnak doesn't have cleric spells in the NES version, but in the C64 and PC-DOS version, he does. She looks like a hobgoblin leader but doesn't shoot arrows, so she shouldn't be so hard killing her except for the fact that Grishnak has a lot of HP (Look up in my monsters section to find the answer.) and can do some damage. Now you have succeeded, we must go get Skullcrusher, Cadorna's servant. Just enter the room on the left (1x1 room) and then go forward and kill the hobgoblins. At this point you should know the technics to kill the hobgoblins and it is a small battle, anyway so I will not cover that part. After that, go into the 1x1 room and find a man who is chained up. Use the brass key you got from Grishnak and use it to unlock the shackles. Then the chained man will introduce himself... the man is Skullcrusher. Now, we're almost done but we have one last thing to do. Go to the Area map and at the bottom right of the map is a room that looks like the 'T' piece from Tetris flipped upside down. Enter the room He is a good fighter. Now return to Phlan. Once you reach the city hall, Skull will leave your party. Now go into the city hall for your reward. Since there is a secret wall, I will guide you into the room. This is the room where Cadorna's treasure is stashed. Enter through the top left corner of the room that is to the left of the Upside Down 'T' shaped room. Now move forward twice while in the room, turn left (Or Right on the Area map) and keep going forward through the illusionary wall. Then you will encounter an Ogre that says, "You puny ones! Go!" and then the battle will begin. ===================== Ogres and Hobgoblins ===================== In this battle you will face 8 hobgoblins, 2 hobgoblin leaders and an ogre. To win this battle, just have your magic users cast sleep on all the hobgoblins, kill them, then finish off the ogre. At this point in the game, the ogre shouldn't be able to slain you, so if he defeats one of your characters, they should be Unconscious or Hurt. Bandage them if they are Hurt to keep them from being Slain, when then character's HP is -10, they die (slain). Now you will get this text: "You find an iron box, across the lock is the seal of the family of Cadorna." And then it will warn you that if you open the box, it will damage the seal beyond repair. You can do one of the three things: 1.) Open it 2.) Take it unopened 3.) Take the box to Restal at his guild. If you chose choice number 3, Restal will offer to forge the seal on the box for half the treasure. If you chose choice number 1, when you get to Phlan, Cadorna will say that he will never forgive you. If you chose choice number 2, He will thank you and I believe the Council will give you a reward. Whatever choice you make, go back to Phlan and go to the City Hall. When you get to Phlan and get close to the city hall, Skullcrusher will tell you that he has to leave your party and that's exactly what he does. Congratulations! You've beaten the textile house. ======================= j. Wilderness missions ======================= Now time to go back to the wilderness. Let's first start out with: ============== 1. Nomad Camp ============== MISSION - To help the nomads rid the Kobolds and not let them join the boss. REWARD - Wand, Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Nomad (if you don't play nice), Kobolds The nomad's camp can be located near the pyramid. When it says you have found a recently abandoned camp that means you are close. Enter it. Now you will trip a wire after a step or two which will trigger an alarm. Hassad (the leader) will ask you what you are doing here. Talk nice with them and have a feast with them. When you are brought into the cabin rest or look around. When you rest Hassad will wake you up and do stuff with you. Then you will go back into the cabin. Rest and then you will wake up to the sound of a battle. Now there are Kobolds attacking! ================== Kobold Battle 1/3 ================== No matter what you try to do you will have to participate in the battle. Now just do what you usually do in recent kobold battles to win. This will be easier with the Nomads on your side. After that, rest again and memorize spells. Then more Kobolds will attack again. ================== Kobold Battle 2/3 ================== Now there will be some more Kobolds this time around but will be just the same as last time. Now for the last battle Hassad will ask you to fight one last battle with him. Accept. Now your job will be even easier in... ================== Kobold Battle 3/3 ================== Now Hassad and elite nomads will join in the battle with bows and arrows. But now there will be more kobolds too. But it actually makes it easier with the elite nomads on your side. Now get the treasure. Hassad will now give you the wand he promised which is either a lightning wand or a missle wand. I forgot. Now time to move on to... ================= 2. Kobold's Cave ================= MISSION - Kill the kobold king REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - Princess Fatima (can't leave Kobold cave) MONSTERS - Kobold (obvious), Boar, Troll, Kobold Leader, Envoy, Wyvern. You know the stream in the eastern part of the wilderness? That is where the kobold's cave is. Now if you found Diogene's cave (the silver good dragon), he tells you to get the Efreet from the kobolds and then go see him, but when I went to see him after I completed the kobold's cave with the Efreet with me, the game says there is nothing here so he's a prankster huh? Anyways, before you try to enter the cave, you will have to deal with a big band of kobolds. Then the game tells you two caves you can go into: the small or the large one. Enter the large cave. Walk around the cave until you get to some rocks or walk ahead into the dead end. if you chose the path to get through the rocks, you will wake a wyvern up, or if you take the dead end part, you will find the wyvern anyway so its looks as if we have mp choice but to kill the wyvern. ============== Wyvern Battle ============== If you haven't read through my monster guide, a wyvern is a type of dragon that can poison your party. That only happens with almost each time he hits you. Make sure your strongest are first so they can rid the wyvern easily. After that, go into the wyvern's nest and select the Look option to find cool treasure. Now go into the dead end and find a one-legged kobold. He says that the king (or the Boss?) didn't like him so he threw him in the ditch. Be a good fellow and help him out. Now go through the rock passage. Then you will find a sleeping kobold. Wake him up so he can take you to the king. From the way the game pronounces his words, you can tell he's got a New York accent. Then look around the cave before encountering the King. If you are lucky, you will find Fatima. She is the princess of her tribe. She will ask you if you can join your party. Make sure you have enough room in your party to let her in. She is very helpful against the King and his forces. Now make your way back to the place the sleeping kobold took you. Then walk around in the middle to find the king and you will start the 3 waves. ======= Wave 1 ======= In this battle, it will be tough-for you will be battling a few kobolds and 2 trolls. You are still weak against trolls though even if you trained a lot. Have your archers shoot arrows at the kobold leaders so they can't shoot your party with arrows, then take care of the kobolds. Then have 1 half of your party go after 1 troll and then the other half go after the other. Then after 1 troll is dead, the other should run away. Now after you've finished the battle, the king will have rocks being shot at you which will hurt your party badly (if you're lucky one of your characters will die...) ======= Wave 2 ======= The same thing but with 2 wild boars added to the mix. You first want to take out the trolls. Second you want to take the boars out. Third, the kobolds. If you have any fireballs, stink clouds, or magic missles, use them. ======= Wave 3 ======= Now is the tough part, now you will be facing the king's bodyguards-Envoys. They are very tough to beat. Have your fighters hit the envoys first with everything they have. Also if you have any effective spells that will paralyze/hold, or at least do damage to a monster, then use it. Then you should have no trouble winning this wave. Now go to the alcove. You can walk through it. Now after looking around, you will see the king commited scuicide by getting caught in one of the traps. Then if you look around, THE KING'S BODYGUARDS! ================ Bodyguard Brawl ================ I forgot who you will need to battle, but I believe it is like Wave 1. After you finish the battle, Look around and have Search mode on. Then find a bottle in a wall. Pull it out and... Who the heck is this!? His name is Samir Awahl who is an Efreet. He will ask you if you are vampires. Say no and you will get him. He doesn't count as a party member. But he does count as an item. He will ONLY come out if a vampire is near, and knowing there is only 1 vampire in the whole game, you will only be using him once. Congratulations! You just beat the kobold's cave! Now go back to Phlan for your reward. If you have the princess Fatima with you when you exit, the nomads will take her home to her tribe. ======================= 3. Valhingen Graveyard ======================= MISSION - Eliminate the Vampire REWARD - Reward from Council NPC ENCOUNTERS - Magician MONSTERS - Zombie, Giant Zombie, Ghoul, Sleleton, Vampire, Wight, Wraith, Wolf, Magician, Juju Zombie, Mummy, V First let's talk about the enemies. Lots of the listed monsters can drain levels and that is NOT what you want. Sometimes monsters sneak up on you without making any noise or you see them. Talking to them doesn't do anything. Since those fights are optional I won't post them in here. Killing the spectres are optional, you don't need to kill them to complete the graveyard, it just stops you from encountering a certain enemy. First let's follow the passage and go right to find a door leading us to... ================ Undead Battle 1 ================ OK now we are going to face more than what we had faced in Sokal Keep. Luckily in this battle, there aren't any Wights or other baddies. To complete this, just do what you did in Sokal Keep. Think of this battle as is you were fighting the undead army in Sokal Keep. Now just walk down to the end of the hall and... ====================== Giant Skeleton Battle ====================== OK now you will be facing TONS of Skeletons and Zombies. Lucky for you, the Giant Skeleton is in the middle of the surrounding zombies so he can't get out and kill you from the start. My tip to you is to have your clerics Turn which means Turn undead which will scare undead sometimes. Now when you come to the Giant Skeleton, have your fighters come in first. Luckily, the Giant Skeleton can't drain levels but can hit for lots of damage. Now just have your fighters hit the Skeleton with everything they got. After that, just walk down the second part of the hall and find a box. Open it for treasure. Now let's go down into the southern part of the graveyard. Now when you find a building, try to go inside until zombies come for you down the stairs... ============= Zombie Horde ============= This is a lot like the Giant Skeleton battle. Just keep your eyes on the zombies closest to you. Also have your clerics turn undead here. Then most of the zombies (if not all) will get afraid. Now walk up the stairs to find a zombie with "baleful eyes". This is the zombie known as the Juju Zombie (sounds ancient huh?). ============ Juju Battle ============ This too is a lot like the skeleton battle, the Zombie is very powerful. Since I Haven't played this for a while, I forgot what the Juju Zombie can do but I think he can drain levels. Luckily you are facing this guy solo. Have your fighters finish of the Juju Zombie. When you win him, you will get lots of cool stuff. I got a lightning wand for it when I searched the room. Now go to the "Area" map and look for a nearby room which looks like the T piece from tetris flipped to the right. Go in there and there's nothing, just one more step and WHOOPS! Looks like you have encountered some Mummys. Right before the battle starts, one of your characters will warn you a mummy's came out of the tomb (Thanks for telling us something we already knew). ================= I Want My Mummy! ================= This battle will be quite tough. You will face quite a few mummies that can Hold your character and disease your character within one successfull hit. Fortunately, they are very easy to kill. Just have your fighters (or clerics for that matter) hit the mummies. Then take the treasure. Now, I'm going to tell you of an optional part to battle the one and only Wraith that can be found in this game. East and up a little where the mummy room is, it is a 2x2 room with a 1x1 room inside of it. If you go to that room, you will hear voices saying they are the ones who attempted to kill the dragons, and they request that you leave. If you decide to stay, you'll have... =============== Wights Galore! =============== You'll be faced with a few wights. The best strategy use can use it to have your cleric(s) turn undead and pray that the wights (at least most of them) get scared. If not, then just hack and slash at them and hope they don't hit you, becuase one successful hit will drain a level and if they drain a party member who has been drained to level 1 (You should have your party members way past that level at this point) then they will be Slain. In other words, they're really dead, and they can only be brought back to life at the Phlan temples and I believe it costs 55,000 GP to restore them. Restoration spells are also available at the temples, so if you want to spend most of your GP to get your characters levels back, then do so. After the battle, enter the building, then go inside and follow the path to the end of the building (in the 1x1 room). In the NES version the text says "There is a coffin with a spirit hovering above it moaning: I am protect this body. Leave of suffer my wrath." Luckily, you have the DOS version to correct that: "In the chamber is a single crypt. Floating above the crypt is a wraith. 'I am the protector of the paladin. I guard his remains for all eternity. Leave or suffer.' " If you choose to stay... ============================== Feel My Wraith! err... Wrath! ============================== Even though there's just one to fight, the Wraith is NOT, I repeat, NOT an enemy to be taken lightly, any successful hit will drain life levels. Fortunately, he's definitely not the most challenging opponent in the game and can be easily hit by a skilled fighter with magical weapons (If the council clerk gives you the sword for the so-called 'Graveyard Menace' then now would definitely be a good time to use it, or any time you're in the graveyard.) You'll get a pretty nice reward after you defeat him. The game will tell you that you the body has armor and weapons. Take them. Now go to the "Area Map" and there will be a narrow path. Walk in it and find a robed man. If you wait or Parley he will come closer. When he is up to your face he will tell you not to kill him. Of course, its a prank. If you look in the NPC guide, you will notice how it says "HE WORKS FOR THE VAMPIRE!". Hopefully you found the Efreeti. Or you will have to do this on your own. The Efreeti can be found in the kobolds cave. After you walk along the path that Magician was, you will be notified that theres thunder around the mausoleum. Then Wights appear! ================== The "Wight" Fight ================== Wights are extremely dangerous. They can drain levels with each successful hit. To defeat these guys, have your clerics turn. It doesn't work all the time but sometimes it will do you justice. My tip to you too is to stay back as far as you can from the wights and use wands, arrows (if composite bows) and any other projectile weapons. If you get drained, start over again. Just keep turning until all the wights (or most of them) are afraid of you and run away. Now go to the Area map to find a room that looks like a cross. Go inside it.Before you enter, the game will mention a sign near it that says "A DARK ONE SLEEPS HERE. ENTER NOT!" but don't listen. Also the game mentions that there is garlic and other stuff that can kill a vampire. After you go inside, walk forward to find the vampire's coffin. Then you will be asked what you want to do with the coffin. Select "Sanctify" and put the stuff in there. Again, I will show you another optional fight, but leaves behind some cool stuff. If you want to skip this, then you can go to the vampire. Anyway, around the top-left on the area map, you should see 2 1x2 next to each other. When you try to enter, a ghost will appear (In the computer version, it's two ghosts) so this takes us to... ============== Super Spectre ============== This is just a regular spectre, he can drain levels with any successful hit, the whole nine yards. Use the strategy you used against Mendor in the library since he's the same exact thing. At this point, you may have a wand, which if you do, and you're very protective of your party losing levels, then use a wand if you have one at all costs, that way you're always guaranteed to hit the spectre and don't have to worry about him hitting you since you will be able to be a distance away from him. Just don't be too far away or you can't use the wand. After you finish off the spectre, walk into the building he was guarding and follow the path to the end and you'll start to hear the encounter music playing, but don't worry, no fights here. Instead, you'll hear a voice (I'm guessing it's the voice of the spectre you just killed) who tells you that you must take his legacy, and then you will get some weapons and I think you even get a ring. Take all of the items if you can. You can always sell them at the shops if you have something better. Then you can get gold. By the time you're done with the graveyard, you should have enough experience points to train one of your characters, so selling the items for money is a good idea if you find the weapons to be useless, like the body that the wraith was protecting. Now go to the Area map and go to the 1x2 room in the northeast part of the graveyard. Notice how you try to go in the 1x2 room but there's no door. That's because there is an illusionary wall there. After you have found it, turn left and OH NO! It's the vampire. If you were dumb enough to take Magician with you, the Vampire will ask him "Have you brought any guests?" and Magician will tell him that you are. Then one of your party members wil tell Magician "You traitor" and the battle will start. If you have the Efreeti (Samir Awahl is the Efreeti's name I forgot to mention) he pops out and tells the vampire he is going to die. The Efreeti has a ton of health so dont' worry about him. ============== BOSS: Vampire ============== Unfortunately, the Vampire can drain levels. Hopefully, you have the Efreet from the kobold's cave or things will be a little harder. The wolves are nothing to worry about. They don't hit you often, and even if they do, they don't do much damage. Now when you have the Efreet at the Vampire, let him take care of business. It will make things a lot easier. If one of your character's levels have been drained by the vampire, just restart. If the Efreeti dies (which is extremely rare) then you are on your own. Now remember, the Efreeti ONLY battles vampires and that's it, so there's not much use for him after the vampire except for... money! But I just kept him as a souvenier. Now after the battle, remember the place where you sanctified the vampire's coffin? Walk in there and... He's there! But first, check the area you first killed him in for his treasure, just select the Look option. ================= BOSS: Vampire II ================= Lucky for you, you won't have to go through those danged wolves. It's just the vampire and this is the last time throughout the game you will see the Efreet in combat. Let the Efreet do things for you. Even better, this time around, the vampire's health is very low this time; 15 HP. After this (if it is daytime) the graveyard will light up. Now there are no more zombies, ghouls, or anything. You can rest here (but the place still gives me the creeps due to the music). And you can go in any place of the graveyard that you want. Now go back to Phlan for your reward. ==================== 4. Yarash's Pyramid ==================== MISSION - Take out the contamination which floods Stojanow River. REWARD - Reward from council, Lizardmen Reward (if you save them). NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Cleric, Diane, Displacer Beast, Drider, Dwarf Fighter, Human Fighter, Kobold, Lizardman, Minotaur, Mutant Lizardman, Stirge, Yarash. You know the black and blue water in the wilderness? We're going to make it blue completely again. First, go to the pyramid in the wilderness. You will notice how you can't get into the pyramid. Go just north of the pyramid along the shore which will take you to the pyramid, then you will find a secret enterance. Enter the pyramid. Now just walk forward until you get to a 2 alcove part. Step into the 2nd alcove and the game will tell you there are small stones and every time you step you feel pain. Go forward and walk forward and then you will be teleported to either a blue place or a red place. The blue place is where you want to be. The red place is just full of tricks and traps. Keep following the passages ignoring any secret doors. When it asks you to throw a small stone, Throw one and walk forward. There will be a part where there is a left and right passage, take the right passage. Then you will get to a door. Enter it. You will find the chamber which contains the bad and good water. Break it. If it says you hear a noise from the pipes, its your decision whether you run back into the room or not. it always varries whether the pipes break on the first try or not. If the game says its surely broken, its still there. The game lies. If you need to keep breaking the pipes, do so. If your characters get hurt, just rest. Now go right before entering the left room (which leads to Yarash) to find chained Lizardmen. Let them go and they will tell you to visit the east marsh (which we will go to after this...). Now go to the left room and meet Yarash. He tells you he will be planning on using you for his experiments. Don't let that happen! ============================= BOSS: Yarash and his Mutants ============================= This will not be an easy battle, for the mutant lizardmen can do more damage to you (they have 11 HP I think) than a regular lizardman can. have your Mages use any paralyzation or hurting spells on the mutant lizardmen first to take them down. Then focus on Yarash. He doesn't cast any spells really but he is a good mage (and I mean good as in good at spells) and has a lightning wand. Kill him and you have just completed the pyramid. If you have Search mode on, you can scroll through his journals AND see what they say. Then step into the corner to get teleported back to the enterance. Ignore the dial. Now head back to Phlan for your reward and don't forget to get trained at the training hall! It is optional, but if you want get some more XP and maybe a few items and gold, you can go into the red part of the pyramid. All you need to do is step into the other alcove that you didn't step into to get to the blue area and it will automatically teleport you there without asking you about throwing stones. This can also be achieved by going into the alcove that can take you to the blue section, throw a stone, and then go forward. Since there's no map, I can't really help you here, but I will help you through the battles. Whenever you find monsters, they will lick their lips. Whenever you find humans, they will say that they have been saved. First, if you want to get out of here, look around and you'll find a cleric who is trying to get out of the pyramid. If you parley, he will tell you that he has tried to dig a hole out of the pyramid but no longer has the strength to finish digging. The game will ask you if you want to help him, so go ahead, unless you want to fight him, but he doesn't give any special rewards or anything. If you want to continue with the pyramid, then just rest and you'll encounter monsters and enemies, and after you kill them in a battle, they can no longer be encountered. In other words, if you finish the enemies off, you can rest there safely and the area will be all yours. In this place is a secret wall, the game will notify you about it if you're right next to it. When you go through, go to the end of the hallway that it takes you to and you'll be teleported to another red area. Again, there's some enemies to kill here, including a new one, called Diane. In the NES version, it's a man, in the DOS version, it's a woman (Either that or we have a Tim Curry wannabe!) and she looks funny as hell. I have a picture of her if you want to see it. Anyway, they're just weak mages that have 21 HP and can easily be killed. In the previous area (I think this area has it too,) you will find Dwarf Fighters, and they are the worst. They can do a good deal of damage but what's worse is that they're very hard to hit, even with skilled fighters, due to their low HP. You only get I think a thousand plus XP so it's really not worth it. Again, after you finish off all the enemies once, the place will be yours. One more thing before I tell you how to get out of here, if you search around, you'll find a dead body, if you Look, you were see an entry written by the man when he was still alive, explaining how all the enemies in the pyramid were failed projects of Yarash. I think you can take his items too. Now, let's get out of here. Look around for a teleporter and you'll be taken back to the enterance of the pyramid. After that, the pyramid is yours for the keeping. Now, head back to Phlan for your reward. ============== 5. East Marsh ============== MISSION - Kill Drythfi and stop the lizardmen from joining the Boss' side. REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Lizardmen, Drythfi Remeber how the lizardmen told you to visit the east marsh? Do it. Go to the docks and head to the western dock. Now go forward into the Northeastern part of the wilderness. Ther will be a bunch of trees bunched up together. Look around in the middle to find the marsh. When you enter, your magic is disabled until you exit. Keep walking forward until you meet a lizardman. He tells you Drythfi is trying to get the lizardmen to join the Boss' (Tyranthraxus') side. He asks if you will kill Drythfi for him since he is too weak. Say yes and have your strongest fighter battle Drythfi ============== BOSS: Drythfi ============== In combat, Drythfi looks exactly like a lizardman except is all brown instead of green. He is also stronger than a lizardman and a mutant lizardman combined. If your character has a bow than things will get even easier, just run away from Drythfi and equip your bow and arrow and shoot. He will eventually die. Then the lizardman will tell you some other lizardmen around here don't like you so you need to leave. Now go back to Phlan and get your reward from the council. Unlike the Buccaneer Base, Zhentil Keep (which will be covered next) and the Nomad Camp, you can go back into the castle. If you've been in the taverns, you may have heard that there's a glittering castle that 'glitters and you can take as much as you want.' Well, this is the place they are talking about. You can take the underground passages and search in the water, but be careful, you will get hit by a lizardman when you're doing so, and the lack of gold and XP you get makes it not worth checking out, so personally, I'd skip this part, but it's all up to you. ================== 6. Buccaneer Base ================== MISSION - Save Lord Bivant's heir and return him back to Phlan. REWARD - Reward from Council/Lord Bivant. NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Buccaneer, Captain, Sub-Captain. This is going to be kind of like the nomad camp. Go to the Phlan docks and take the west dock. When you get o the wilderness, head west until the land drops down south. Look around that part and when you get a message saying that you see some man head into a base, then you are close. Remember in order to find this place you need to be commisioned by the council to go there. Now when you find the base and get offered to get escorted it, accept it, otherwise you can't go inside. Surprisingly, this place has an Area map so you will be able to find your way around. If you meet up with a man who asks you if you want to buy a ticket to see the captain, say yes. Now look around this place until you try to enter a room but the buccaneer says no unless you have a ticket. Show him the ticket and then you can meet up with the captain. You will ask the captain how much you can buy the heir for (the guy you must rescue) and what the captain will offer you to buy him is way out of your league, (Unless you actually have the whopping 35,000 GP that he's selling him for.) so it looks like you will have to find another way to get the kid and that's what I'm here to tell you. First, look around for him. If you look into the pens you will find the heir (he should have golden skin and wearing blue pants and he's shirtless) one of your characters will mention that its him. A trader will come up to you and tell you that the heir will make a good price at Zhentil Keep. Just ignore him and he will leave you. He wants to make you mad but if you just select Ignore, he will be the one who gets mad and will go away. Now look around the base until you find the animal pen. Go into the "alley" part of the place and the game will tell you that you can open the latch to get the animals out. Open the latch and the buccaneers will run after the animals. Hurry and let all the slaves out of the other pen and get the Heir and get out of the base before the animals are back in their cage and you get attacked. Now go back to Phlan and the council will tell you Lord Bivant wanted to give you a reward for getting his Heir back. You will get some jewels (which aren't worth a lot). Congratulations! You are done with the buccaneer base and you are 1 step closer to saving Phlan! ================ 7. Zhentil Keep ================ MISSION - Deliver the letter to the Commandant and escape. REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Commandant, Guard, Aides, Commandant, Dwarf Fighter. If you are having trouble saying the word "Zhentil" I will tell you how to say it correctly. Say "Zen-til". Now let's cut to the chase. You will meet councilor Cadorna again. He will tell you he wants you to deliver a letter to the Keep. Why can't he do it himself? Because he's lazy. Zhentil Keep can be located in the southwest part of the wilderness. Now the guards will first ask you if you have been sent by Cadorna or something. Say yes and you can enter the keep. When you first enter the keep, don't think about moving around. You will have to take a tour from one of the Zhentil Guards and he will take you to meet the Commandant, the leader of this place. You will then give the commandant the letter. The commandant doesn't read it out loud, but it must be offensive knowing what will happen to you later in this place. Then the guard will show you to your room. Its wierd because the commandant tells you to look around but the guard will tell you to stay in your room. If you leave you get in trouble, so be nice and rest. Later the same guard will take you to the commandant again for a feast. Then the commandant will ask you what you want to talk about. After a comversation or two, the commandant will tell you the feast is over. Now it is time to go to bed. Not here though, once you are back in your room, the game will ask you if you want to stay up or sleep. Stay up and later you will be attacked by the Zhentil guards. This is why I said the letter must have been offensive. =============== Zhentil Guards =============== Zhentil guards are surprisingly very easy with the Aides. Only problem is, they come in huge amounts. Think of this as a kobold battle: The Aides are kobold leaders and the guards the kobolds. Then you will win this battle. Now you have won the battle but mre guards follow! Just use the same tactic I told you to use for the first battle and you will get out of this. Now you will need to escape. Go on the outskirts of this place and there will be a part where you can jump over the wall and out of the keep. If you stay long enough, you'll notice the battles will get tougher and tougher until the commandant himself tries to fight you with his right-hand-man Al Hyam Dazid. I will not cover this part (for now) because I can't find any strategies to beat him, plus he has 110 HP, that's 30 more HP than the final boss in the game has. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Oh well, anyways, go back to Phlan and get your reward. ================= k. Stojanow Gate ================= MISSION - To take out the patrols and gain control back to this place. REWARD - Reward from council NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Bugbear, Ettin, Aides, 6th LVL MU When you return to city hall you will get to go through the south door (yay!) and you will meet Lord Urslingen (he has my character's face). He will tell you to get back Stojanow Gate for him. The Stojanow Gate can be found north of Podol Plaza. Take the eastmost enterance. When you proceed forward, you will meet a merchant who is carrying a wagon full of goods. Talk to him and you will ask him if you can buy the wagon from him. He says you can for 500 Gold Pieces. If you want it for free, kill him. Now when you first pass the gate, head west and the bugbear guard will ask you to pay him 15 Gold Pieces. Pay him to pass through the gate. You can only do this ONCE. Now head east (or west for that matter) and head into one of the guard towers. They are the 2x6 rooms to the left and right from when you first enter this section. When you enter, you will overhear the Aides and a Magic-User conversing, saying they want to get the whole war over with so that they can become barons of Phlan or become leaders. If you advance, you can see for the first (and last) time what Ettins look like when you encounter them. ============== Patrol Battle ============== Ettins have a maximum of 50 HP and you will be facing three of them in this round of doom. The Mage can cast some deadly lightning bolts on you too. Have your clerics cast hold person and other spells on the ettins to stop them. Ettins can hit you for about 20 HP. Have your mages use magic missle and all of that on the Mage and the Aides. The Aides only has 13 HP and the Mage has 23 HP. Now rest your characters completely and memorize your spells. Then walk out of the patrol tower and the guards from the tower will be waiting for you. This next battle is the same as the last. Use the same tactic and you shouldn't have any trouble. Now that will be the last time you will ever battle an Ettin. Now go back to Phlan and get ready for your final mission. Also to collect your XP and money! ================== l. Valjevo Castle ================== MISSION - Find and kill Cadorna (OPTIONAL), To find Tyranthraxus' place. REWARD - Reward from council, game complete NPC ENCOUNTERS - N/A MONSTERS - Cleric, Figher, Fire Giant, Guard, Giant Snakes, Hill Giant, Troll Now you will get to meet the mayor of Phlan. I can't remember his name because it is so weird. But let's get on with the mission shall we? This place is huge and doesn't have an Area map, so you will have to figure all this out yourself. Valjevo Castle is north of Stojanow Gate. When you first enter head east and go into the room that has the eastern facing door. You will find women washing clothes. They will give you disguises so you don't get caught by the guards. Kill them, as they say they will keep all this a secret, they will really tell the guards. Sometimes the alarm will ring, but you still won't get caught. Just tell the guard if he finds you, that you work for the Boss. Any other choices will start a fight with an Aides and a few Hill Giants. Since this is optional, there is no need to post that. You may notice in the little "alleys" if you will, there are rooms and sometimes two 1x1 rooms. On the eastern side in the first room is Cadorna. You will have three choices: Kill him, Let him go, or leave him. The council will give you a reward if you kill him but Cadorna will give you the password into the maze. If you try to leave him two times, he will threaten to sound the alarm. There are other ways you can get the password too. In one of the "alley" rooms, there is a gnoll torturing cooks. You can kill the Gnoll (without starting a battle) and the cook will give you the password. The other way is to find a fire giant in the guard post which will be stupid enough to show you the password if you parley "Haughty" with him. Across from the room with the gnoll and the cooks is a little library. The game will ask you if you want to read the books. If you say yes, you'll find out more behind Tyranthraxus, and that he doesn't plan on just conquering Phlan, but the whole Moonsea region. After it gives you that info, you can move around the room and it will ask you if you want to read the books if you want, but if you say yes, it will just tell you there's too many things to read and that killing Tyranthraxus is much easier than reading the books (Sounds like he's really weak then). Be careful, though, this room's not exactly what you'd call safe. Sometimes, if you decide to examine the books, a man will come in. If he spots you, he'll say that you're not supposed to be here, and he will then run out of the room and raise an alarm. Other times, you're lucky and he won't see you, which the game then gives you the choice of knocking him out, which you should if you want, or you can kill him too (And I think there's an option to bind him up). Select whichever one you want. Now, it's time we get to the last part of this game. Let's go to the labyrinth. The labyrinth is a huge place and this is the place that will lead you to Tyranthraxus' place. The maze is in the center of Valjevo Castle. There are two enterances with two doors along each other. One enterance is on the West side (which will lead to Tyranthraxus' Place) and one will lead to the duplicate Tyranthraxus. Take the west enterance. There are a few battles you can get into, but they're not necessary. There's a room that has a middle-aged man who begs you not to kill him, that Tyranthraxus is making him work for him. He doesn't do anything so let him go. He may give you something in return if you push him. There's also a battle with a few fire giants who are arguing over a stupid subject. One giant says that toads and frogs are different and another giant thinks that they aren't. If you say that they're different, the giants will first try to kill you, but one of them will defend you. You may breathe a sigh of relief here but the game's just screwing with you. The giants start fighting, then one of them asks why they are fighting each other when your party started it. This battle is optional so I will not cover it. Besides, at this point all your characters should be full level, so there's not really any need for the XP or Gold. You should have more powerful weapons than the shops in Phlan can sell you, so that makes the gold worthless. There's also a place where you can battle trolls but again, it's optional and unnecessary so I won't cover it. Anyway, going to Tyranthraxus' place, take the left door inside and take these directions: F is Forward, L is left and R is Right. F(3x), L, F, L, F, R, F, R, F(3x), R, F, L, F, R, F(7x), R, F(2x), L, F, L, F til end of hall, R, F, R, F, L, F, R, F(2x), L, F, L, F(2x), R, F(2x), L, F til end of hall, R, F(2x), L, F 2x L, F 2 until you get to the door at your left. Now enter the room and turn right. It's a wall. Not any ordinary wall, proceed forward and you'll walk right through it! It's an illusionary wall! Now turn left and go up the stairs (door looks like arch kind of). Now we are in... As Billy Mays said, "But wait, there's more!" Well, there is. If you entered the maze from the east side and took these directions, the game will state how you spot a man in fine clothing. His character portrait is Skullcrusher's so I wonder if it's him? Nah, it's not. Anyway, the man claims he is Tyranthraxus, future conqueror of Phlan. But here's the big catch; this isn't really Tyranthraxus, it's just a phony, and you can talk him into confessing that. If you do blow his cover, he'll ask you if he can leave. If you say yes, there's some treasure in store for you, if you decide to kill him, well, all you need to do it just hack and slash him, or if you're that worried about your characters taking damage, simply cast a Stink Cloud spell on him, and hope that he gets held. He has 40 HP and has a barbecue sauce palette swap of a thief. Notice how now (brown cow) the alarm rings. What's so bad about the alarm ringing in the maze? Well, it's full of giant poisonous snakes, and trust me, you don't want to fight them, any successful hit results in the hit party member being poisoned and killed. Now you need to retrace your steps, just reverse the directions I gave you to find your way out. Anyway, once you take the right way and go through the illusionary wall, you will be in... ======================= m. Tyranthraxus' Place ======================= MISSION - To kill Tyranthraxus and save Phlan REWARD - Reward from council, game complete NPC ENCOUNTERS - Genheeris (Genheris in party) MONSTERS - Thief (Lvl 1), Genheeris, Medusa, Fighter (Lvl 8), Tyranthraxus (Real) Well, this is it. When you get here, you will be noted how an illusionary wall is to your left. There is also a door in front of you. If you go through it, you will have to confront the medusa. I won't post a walkthrough for this because it is optional and is therefore not needed to finish the game. Now, go through the illusionary door. Now if you see a door to your left, DO NOT ENTER IT! It is where Tyranthraxus is and we need Genheeris in our party. His magic can hurt Tyranthraxus severely. Go into the door that you see in front of you. Go into it and there is a thief. He will tell you to be quiet because he has returned from someplace and is very tired. You can kill him if you want but he leaves no good reward. Anyways, after that, you will hear Genheeris call for his messanger, then the thief walks in and later will leave with a document in his hand. Then Genheeris will now yell for his messenger. When you enter his office, he will tell you to go get something for him. Refuse and he will think Tyranthraxus is going to betray him. Then he will ask if he can join your party and that he offers more than what Tyranthraxus can. Accept him in your party by all means. Now after he joins your party, you must go into Tyranthraxus' room right after or he will leave your party. When you first enter, you will be noted how a golden dragon comes out of the pool wraped in flames. This is Tyranthraxus. You may think you can face him right now, but you are wrong. He is going to send some bad boys out for you. ===================== Tyranthraxus' Guards ===================== This is an extremely tough battle. you will be up against about 12 8th level fighters. They are very hard to hit and do damage. They have 87 HP. The best strategy I found to kill all of them is to use all Hold Person, Fireball, and Lightning Bolt spells and wands. Then they can be taken care of easily. After you finish the guards off, Tyranthraxus will threaten to kill you if you refuse to join him and says he's too strong for you. If you join him, the ending screen you get is the GAME OVER screen, and we don't want that now, do we? Say no and the battle will begin. (In the DOS version, each character gets to select whether they want to join or fight Tyranthraxus. Whoever decides to join Ty will be a computer player and fight against your party.) ========================================== FINAL BOSS: Tyranthraxus (AKA - The Boss) ========================================== Tyranthraxus takes up 4 spaces and has 80 HP. He is resistant to pretty much any spells and wands you use on him. What makes this battle even more difficult is that you just had to put up with 12 hard-to-kill fighters that may have severly damaged or killed one or more of your party members. That's where Genheeris comes in. His magic missles can hurt about 1/5 or 1/4 of damage. Tyranthraxus will hurt you severely and even worse - he can do... well how do I put this... Bonus Damage. He can hit you with his fire too. Fortunately, it doesn't do much damage. Another thing you can do is run away from him and use your bow and arrows. Those will do some damage on him. After you kill him, a spirit comes out of Tyranthraxus. Oh, wait a minute, that spirit IS Tyranthraxus! He will threaten to posess one of your party members and he'll rule forever that way. Bane then comes to take him away, though Tyranthraxus begs him not to take him, that he's not finished, that he can still rule here. Bane does end up giving Ty another chance in the game's sequel Curse of the Azure Bonds, which I've never completed. Also, if you were planning on taking over Phlan and killing the guards, think again because now, there are no more ways to anger the guards. But you basically own Phlan now if that's the case. The fights in the taverns are no longer there and the only thing you'll be hearing is someone asking who killed Tyranthraxus. Yes, I wonder who could have saved Phlan from Tyranthraxus? Wonder if they are in this tavern right now... (In the DOS version, you can go into a tavern and get in a fight, and after the fight, the guards will be alerted so if you select to stay after the fight, you will be able to fight them, but be careful, if you do, the city won't help you anymore and since there's no more missions to do, there's no way to get them back on your side again, at least no way that I'm aware of.) ================ 11. Game Ending ================ WARNING: This part is only for anyone who likes spoilers. This is what the game says when you kill Tyranthraxus. Enjoy! The dragon is mortally wounded... As he expires, something rises from the body. TYRANTHRAXUS: You fools! You can't destroy me, even if you destroy this shell. I can live by entering into your bodies. I will live forever! The pool flares and begins to shine brightly! BANE (Game calls him "Voice"): No Tyranthraxus! You will not dishonor me. You have failed... TYRANTHRAXUS: Oh, my lord Bane! How can you call me back now? Stop, please! I'm not yet... Aaaaauuugh! Tyranthraxus is dragged into the pool by an invisible force. The pool's water stops glowing as the spirit as the spirit recedes. Tyranthraxus is destroyed! You return to Phlan victorious. Now the game will show your character's portraits and a few other pictures from the game. Then watch the credits roll and you Capcom fans will be surprised that Yoshihiro Sakaguchi was an ECL (Extensive Computer Language) Programmer. Seiji Toda did the music though, not Yoshihiro, though no offense, I think Seiji did a better job than Sakaguchi would. ======================= 12. Errors In the Game ======================= Since the NES version of the game was developed by a Japanese company, you can expect a few spelling/grammar errors in the game: Tavern Rumor: "We need to be careful or it will decl are waron phlan." Decl are waron phlan - Declare war on Phlan. Podol Plaza This is a naban doned house. Only mice scurry about. A naban doned - An abandoned ======== 13. FAQ ======== Q - At the end of the game, I get these LOOONG passwords called "Character Sheets" what are they for? A - Nothing really because the developers were going to come out with the sequel "Curse of the Azure Bonds" for the NES but never did. The codes were going to be used to transfer your characters. Well, it just so happens that they DID release it for the PC. But those codes won't work on there. Q - Who is "The Boss"? A - Tyranthraxus. That's just what everyone called him. Q - What Happens if You Kill the Phlan Guards? A - All the stores will not let you in and say "We cannot help you wicked ones." And then in the southwest temple, you have to fight with some clerics who are past full level, along with some fighters. I've heard you can get the city's respect back by finishing a mission but I've never tried it. Q - Haha. Nice one. You actually think anyone's gonna beleive you completed the game? You are probably ripping off True Overdrive's walkthrough of this! A - If that was the case, why would I be posting on how to get through the maze? I have no intent on ripping off Overdrive. Q - When they ask me if I want to leave a Character Sheet and I say YES, it says "Who will leave the party". I don't want my characters to leave. A - Nothing to fear, they really mean "Leave" as in leaving a character sheet. But its just a waste of time. Q - How hard is Tyranthraxus? Is there any certain strategy I can use to beat him? A - VERY HARD! But the best solution I found is to shoot him with arrows as far away from him as possible. Q - kcksldnfl sdhflsdhflihsdfhs A - Umm okay, that I will not reply to. Especially if its in another language. I only know English. So please e-mail me something in English, rather than a foreign language. Don't worry, I can usually understand those who speak little English. Q - Why didn't you post 1-8th level fighters, clerics and all that? A - Because there are too many of them I can't post all of them. Besides, they don't really count as monsters. Q - WHen I encounter Cadorna in the Castle should I release him or kill him? A - If you release him, he gives you the password into the maze. If you kill him the council will give you a reward. If you leave instead of attack, Cadorna will trigger the alarm. Personally, I would kill him because all he does is give you the password to the gate into the maze if you release him, but there's another way or two to get it. If you kill him the council will give you a tiny reward (Hey, at least it's better than nothing at all, am I right?) Q - I can't find the nomad camp/buccaneer base. Why can't I find it!? A - Either because the council hasn't commisioned you to go there or you just haven't looked hard enough. Q - Why won't the Zhentil Guards let me in Zhentil Keep? A - You must be commisioned to go there by the Council Clerk and talk to Councilor Cadorna. He will give you a letter telling you not to read it beforehand and to give it to the captain at Zhentil Keep. Zhentil Keep is in the southwest corner of the wilderness, it is a castle icon on the map. Q - Where do you find Nymphs/Wardogs in this game? A - To be honest I don't really think they are in the game. I looked through the game's graphics and didn't see any for them (though I didn't really look a whole lot). I haven't come across them either. Q - I am willing to take the risk dying by facing a phase spider. Where do I find them? A - The wilderness is the only place I've seen them. Even at that, they're extremely rare to come across. The chance of coming across one is the same chance of getting 7 7 7 on a slot machine. (Take that very literally.) It's hard to find them, but they can be found. Just prepare to play it for an hour or so. Q - Where do I battle the wraith? A - So, you think you've got the guts, eh? (No, I'm not Canadian), alright, go to the area map in the graveyard, and on the middle right of the map on the end of the map is a small 2x2 room. When you try to enter the door, some wights will warn you that they will kick your (insert the word here). If you decide to attack them, they will come out and, well, I told you how deadly wights could be. But if you beat them, walk to the end of the mausoleum, and there he is. Haha, I still remember what he says "I am protect this body..." Q - How long did it take to make this guide? A - Honestly, it's been so long that I don't remember. I believe it was a few months, but I played through the game also while making this guide (to ensure that I was writing things correctly) Q - I have suggestions for you. How do I tell them to you? A - My e-mail is located at the top, since I always check it daily, it should work so if you send me an e-mail it should go through. If it doesn't, you can check out my other online accounts such as YouTube, Steam, Skype, AIM. My username for all of them is Doommaster1994. (This question was sent to me by a viewer of this guide) Q - I found an item called Manual of B Health. What does it do? A - I wasn't sure at first but after researching it, it's a Manual of Bodily Health, which is supposed to raise the user of the manual's constitution one point but for whatever reason, it doesn't work in this game, so it's virtually worthless, so just sell it for money. Q - Hey! The Bless spell from the computer versions is missing in this game! A - No it's not, because Nintendo was censor-crazy, they had to rename the spell to 'Empower'. Q - I found a really neat item that sells really expensive at the stores in Phlan, should I sell them? A - It depends. If it's a weapon and it proves useful, then no, do not sell the weapons, because who knows, it could be very useful against Tyranthraxus. On the other hand, if it's just a piece of Jewelry like a Dragon Figure or Fine Tapestries, then sell them, as they serve no purpose or use rather than to get money. However, there are a couple items that you will need to use only once, twice or only a few times in the game before they're useless, such as the brass key in the textile house, you only need it to free Skullcrusher (which isn't even necessary and besides, the key won't sell for anything so dropping the item's worth just as much). Then, in the Kobold cave, there is an Efreeti that you can get and you only need him once to be a great help for the Vampire Battle (Though I've had little trouble defeating the vampires with my own enemies but he helps a great deal and reduces the risk of your party members getting drained.) He'll sell for an amount of Gold in the thousands (I forgot exactly how much). Q - What is it about the NES version in your opinion that puts it above all other versions? A - First off, I couldn't even get past the slums on the computer versions. Second, the difficulty in this game is just right. There are some hard battles, but a few tries should overcome them. I've heard people say they hate this port of the game because 'the characters look too Japanese'. Well, it was developed by a Japanese company, what do you expect? Also, people say they don't like this one because it's censored. Don't blame the developers, blame Nintendo. Q - Hey! You're that Doommaster1994 guy on YouTube! A - Yes. It's a small, small world... (This next question was sent to me by a reader) Q - You did not mention in your guide when I should level up. A - I have updated this guide with an XP table that tells you how many XP points are required to level up a character. Note that training costs 1000GP Q - Can I add you on facebook? A - Yes, as long as you tell me that you're adding me because you liked my guide. That way I know you're not trying to spam me. Q - Who are you? How old are you? Where do you live? A - I'll only give my vague whereabouts and little info. My name is Nick and I live in the United States of America. How old am I? Well, I'm not old enough to go in bars or taverns. That's all I'm willing to tell you. ================== DOS Version Cheat ================== If the DOS version of Pool of Radiance proves too tough for you (it certainly did for me, I used the same party as the NES version plus 2 thieves so maybe it's just that my party just sucks on the DOS version), fortunately for you, there's a cheat code. When you're about to run the game, type the following in (Capitalization is REQUIRED!): start STING When the game starts, you should be taken past the Copy Protection screen. Here's what you can do now: During a battle if you holt Alt and press X, the game will say 'The Gods Intervene' and you will instantly win the battle and all the enemies will be wiped off the screen. Go to the training hall, then when a trainer asks if you would like to be trained, say yes and at the menu, press J and the game will say, "I Understand, Master". This will allow you to train your characters for free AND you don't have to pay. Even with my characters fully trained, the first part of the game was nearly impossible for me to beat (Again, it's probably because I have a sucky party.) If you hold Ctrl and press C, the game will instantly close, so if you're game's glitching up or something, you won't have to do the infamous Ctrl+ Alt+Delete procedure to bring up the Task Manager just to close out the game. ================== 15. Contacting Me ================== My e-mail is Doommaster1994@yahoo.com and if you are going to e-mail me, please title the subject Pool of Radiance or else my spamfilter may put you in the bulk or spam folder. I always check my spam folder though, so if my e-mail rejects yours, then don't worry, but still title it Pool of Radiance, that way I know you're trying to contact me about the guide and not spam me. =========================== 16. Credits/Special Thanks =========================== Credits: Me for doing this strategy guide Special Thanks: TrueOverdrive for inspiring me to make this strategy guide Me for making this guide You, the viewer, for taking the time to read through this guide. GameFAQs/GameSpot: For putting this guide onto their site Seiji Toda for the best music he supplied in the NES version. David Warhol for the Commodore 64 version's great title music. Wally Beben for doing the great music for the Amiga version. My parents for... well, you know...