Lands of Lore 2: Guardians of Destiny

• Try this trainer. Or the walkthrough below.
  
  

  This game is all about doing your own thing. You have to do your own exploring, in your own good time and in any way you like - and take your own decisions at every turn. Investigate at will; the more time you spend at it, the more you'll find. Particularly at first, you are given every opportunity to feel free. Try just about everything - hack at things, jump over things, go swimming - do anything you like and find out your limitations and your powers.

  Into the game proper, bear in mind that there are more items in this game than you can hope to cope with. In every scenario, find a nice clear space in which to drop the stuff you don't need just yet, but from which you can retrieve it before you go on to the next level. Mostly, there is no return. Since there is really no indication of how important certain items are, you might easily leave behind something vital without realizing it, and it's not fun having to reload and go back several levels just for that reason. If you are really at a loss as to what to really discard, ingredients for spells are a safe bet. Another is lesser weapons and armour. I will tell you which vital objects you must take with you from every scenario, so that you don't have to do what I did - go back about twenty levels several times! When I say "Take with you", I mean hang on to these items, you are going to need them much, much later. You'll see I also specifically mention two weapons - that is because I found them both indispensable (Great Blizzard Axe and Valkyrie Crossbow).

  On the subject of weapons, you are going to be spoiled for choice till you find the above mentioned ones. You'll have to decide which one you like best and be ruthless with the rest. If you are unsure, take them with you from scenario to scenario and keep trying them out in reasonably safe circumstances. But don't carry them all around with you.

  Which brings me neatly onto the subject of combat. Most beasts will leave you alone if you don't attack them - if you do, their friends and relations tend to join in and you can find yourself in real trouble. Still, if you do not fight, you don't advance so fast - and you need the experience points. It is best to pick on isolated creatures whenever you have the chance rather than start an argument when there are several of them around, since they'll all turn on you. Some can be killed from a safe distance, but any which have the power to cast things at you, be it poison or spells, are best fought at close quarters.

  Apart from combat, other hazards you will encounter are unexpected traps and, above all, having to jump to get places. Now, this jumping business if very hazardous - I had a special saved game called Jumps and always saved before I started and every time a jump was successful. A bit of a nuisance, but better than having to start from the beginning every few minutes. Sometimes you can just jump by pressing the spacebar or D, sometimes you have to go back a bit and press the Shift and forward keys to run before the jump. Some surfaces are slippery, so that you have to press the backward key quickly or over you go.

  As to the ingredients for spells, when you have a good variety save your game and try different combinations. If you get Arrant Prac, you know you've got it wrong. Note down anything useful and reload. Frankly, I found that the ingredients themselves were more often more useful than any mixture I could concoct...

  In writing this, I cannot anticipate what you will choose to do... or what you CAN do. Very often, you are restricted by which shape you happen to be at a critical moment. And that's entirely random. "A Solution" means that I am merely describing the path I took; if reading this helps you, well and good - but I do not claim that this is the only way to solve this game. The most important hint I can give you is: take your time, examine everything, talk to everybody, be very thorough. Keep examining the map and make sure you've covered everything. Also look out for Lizard-sized holes in rooms and other places: not only can these be short cuts to other rooms but can also contain special items.

  Here we go. From the start:

  The Caves

  • You get comprehensive instructions in the Manual as to how to proceed in these first caves - with pictures and all! But here goes, anyway, for a little extra help. Don't, however, slavishly follow the Manual, or me - the whole puropose of this area is to allow you to experiment. Try everything you can think of! It will be invaluable experience for later on, and may be you'll come up with something nobody else has tried before.
    
    

    And, now, for some down to earth instructions. Head generally north (without neglecting watching the map to make sure you cover all the ground), picking up stones, crystals, etc. Actually, the only really useful item is the Cave Aloe, which heals you - but do your own thing. Follow the arrows you'll spot on the walls. You might like to pick a safe fight or two (i.e., fight one guard at a time), just to get yourself a sword and a shield and collect experience points. Avoid the three archers at the entrance, they'll kill you for sure. Still, you might find it fun to see what happens if you do try to run through - but save your game first.

    Carrying on, when you come to some fireflies over a big rock, click on them and then follow them. You will metamorphose as you come to a low entrance on the rock. If you become the Lizard, go through. If you become the Beast, turn right around and follow the right wall till you come to a large boulder. Walk against it to move it out of the way.

    Proceed along here till you come to a lit room with two columns barring the way. Walk around the one to the right and push it against its fellow. Then go to the front and push it forward. You'll soon be able to get through.

    Past here you will come to several doors, all of which but one will open by just clicking on them. When you are in front of the one which won't, turn right and cut the chain with a sword (just click on the sword symbol). Inside, an ancient magic stone. If you right click it on the portrait, Luther gets extra magic power.

    Check the other rooms. In one of them you'll see some crates. These can be piled up in front of the smooth wall to climb up through the hole. Not that it seemed worth the effort - but I guess we are just being shown the ropes. In the other room, tucked in a very dark corner, you will meet a Orc on whom you can click for a conversation. Speak to him twice and, when he expresses a wish to sleep before he fetches you something or other, let him sleep - if you poke him once more he just dies. Don't even bother to come back to him. Let him follow you if he wills.

    I expect you'll come across a lot of waterfalls NE of a big pool. If you go to the waterfall to the N and smash the gushing rock with a weapon, this has unexpected results. Push on here, see if it'll do you any good. Then move on.

    In your travels, you might find yourself peeking through a gap at a guard - on the floor, an oil lake. Cast Spark to fry the poor fellow, but back off quickly or you will get burned, too. All of this, you realize, is to let you learn how to come to grips with the game. Whatever you chose to do here, matters not at all.

    Carry on exploring till you come to a bridge over a river. A door opens and a guard talks to you. If, facing the bridge, you look to the left, you'll see a lever. This opens another portcullis around to your right and you can go into the guards' rooms and pick up some goodies.

    Cross the bridge towards the big doors, but don't be in a hurry - there's some more fun to be had. If you hear the words "Hey, you!", that really means YOU. Turn around and advance along the bridge the way you came. When you see soldiers coming along, cut the chains to have a section of the bridge collapse (with the soldiers on top) while you back off to safety. Snig, snig.

    Enough. Let's get on with the real game. Face the gates and enter the Draracle's lair. Speak to him. Eventually, he will direct you to the...

  Shinning Path

  • Move to the door and go in, note the customer to your left and pretend you haven't, pick up the sword, mail (don't forget to equip them) and the champion stones. These, as you will know from the Manual, will make you stronger.
    
    

    Now, you could open the metal bars by pulling the lever - going through the mirror is a shortcut to the village you are meant to visit. However, it's much more fun to move the tapestry aside and go through the teleporter (just click on the wall).

    Advance and click on the Orb. We seem to be in some sort of museum. Back off a little. To your right you will find, on the wall, a triangular key. Keep this key in your inventory where you can see it. The creatures in this area will steal your last equipped item, and since you are going to use this key all the time to get a reading of the exhibits, it's always the last - you are going to have to fight tooth and nail to keep it. Every time you've fought and the key is missing, search the body of your victim. You might even have to run after the thieves. But don't let us anticipate. In front of the orb, a tile on the floor can be moved and a stand will pop up. Use the key on it and the wall at the back will open. Go in, cast Spark at the torch and then take all the scrolls. Open the panel to your right and cast Spark. Leave the way you came in. Should the wall close before you can get out, a lever to the left of the door will open it again. Retrieve the key from the stand.

    OK, you must keep checking the map to make sure you don't miss anything. Try to keep hugging the left wall so that you cover all of this area methodically. Use the triangular key on the stands by the exhibits to find out what they are all about.

    If the scenario is a bit dark, walk up to the dim or unlit torches and cast Spark to light them up. You will first come to a barred room which you cannot enter. If you stand on the right side and cast Spark, you will be able to see and pick up a green gem. Put it in the square for magic items in your inventory - it gives you considerable protection. The next exhibit will give you a broken sword. Hang on to it. Still keeping left, you should find a door on the wall which will lead you downstairs, where you will pick up the Prism Sword. This is the best weapon to be had at the moment, till you get the Firesword. Go back up and keep going left.

    In a room full of paintings, click on the one on the far wall to reveal a lever. This opens up the next complex of rooms along (one of them contains THE hourglass, more of this anon). Naturally, you will use the triangular key to hear all about the paintings. Going on, spot the one lit room (containing the hourglass) with the other three dim ones - using the triangular key on the stand at the opening to this complex will give you the clue. We'll be coming back here later. Carry on for now. You will come to a huge blue gem. After you've heard what it's all about, you can hack away with a sword and get three chips off it. If you click them on the fire around this room, they are charged with the fireball spell. You can only use them once, though. I did not find where else you could charge them, but I was soon packing so much stuff, I didn't care.

    Having got right around here, you can next do the centre of this area. You will find an axe over a stand (this axe is extremely useful because it can be thrown when you need to hit something from a distance and it comes back to you). When you pick it up, you'll find yourself in some sort of liquid - going up will get you to the scroll room behind the orb. To get out, find the lever on the left and the wall will open leaving you at the orb.

    Once you've been all around, go to the room to the S with the hourglass (don't discard the triangular key, make sure you take it with you; you'll need it much later). Hit the hourglass with your sword and it will break. If you now back away and turn to your right, you will see that bits of the wall have fallen off. Hack at it with any weapon and then go through.

    Just go along the corridor until you come to a barred door. Kill the creature, click on it to get some Dragon Blood and collect the other vials in the room (these, by the way, act as delayed bombs). Open the door and go along to the dragon having a kip, click on him to chat and he will take you to...
    (Take with you: Triangular key)

  The Jungle

  • You might like to start by discarding here anything you don't need.
    
    

    Just move ahead of you at first. If you meet a two-headed beast, don't start poking at it after talking to it, otherwise it'll have you. Just follow on till you get to the village. An old man will tell you some people are missing and won't let you through. You might as well start searching. The best way of going about this area is to use Luther to explore, the Beast to fight the two-headed nasties (experience points, you see) and the Lizard to get into those nooks and crannies. But it's up to you.

    Wandering around the jungle and following rivers is fraught with danger, particularly if you fall into deep water (oh, do - save first and have a go, it's really worth seeing). If you spot an isolated rock spouting water, attack it with a sword or something and you will find that a river bed dries out. In the north end of the dried out river there is a hole - the Lizard can get a Speaking Stone and other items. (On the subject of Speaking Stones, use them by clicking them on the portrait. They will give you a slight clue as to what's going on.)

    While you are exploring, keep your eyes on the ground and see what you can pick up. Some bushes with paler and darker leaves give you aloe (healing). If you cut the trees with a yellow blob at the bottom, you get ironwood sap. You can get some wax from hanging hives and, by a small waterfall, Mind Stones. Save your game, use one in the usual way and you'll see the whole area mapped. If you then reload, you can use the same stone time and again.

    You might come across a small temple by this same waterfall, with several statues all around a circle on the ground. Pick up the scroll you'll see on the floor and read it, but save before you attempt going up the stairs - I got trapped up there because I couldn't get the jump right, but you do get another scroll and some experience. You might like to have a bash. Me, I reloaded and tried something else. If you click on the wall behind one of the statues, it opens out. On the same side, but nearer the arch though which you entered there is a hidden panel with a lever. Using this you can lift the statue in front of the secret door and go through it. The stuff you can pick up here is pretty useless, so don't bother - at the end you'll be in another part of the jungle.

    To the SW, and going between two green mounds, you'll meet Kit'yara, who has a fine sword and wants an orb of power for it. She also tells you, amongst other things, about her son Daniel. She is important and you will be meeting her later on.

    N of here you'll come to a waterfall. Approaching, you'll get a close up - click on the right and you'll enter a cave in which there is a skeleton and another Speaking Stone. If you've covered the whole area thoroughly, we can get on with the business on hand. Although there is a short cut to where you want to be, you need to be the Lizard to get to it and, because this is beyond your control, you might as well head for the maze of thorns. You have to be careful because they suddenly grow and leave you cut off and disoriented. Keep an eye on the map and, if you feel there should be an exit in a particular spot, hack away with one of your weapons to get through; better still, cast Spark. This prevents the thorns from growing again and also marks your path rather conveniently.

    You want to head south and then west. At length, you will come out into a clearing. Search carefully for an opening in the rock and enter...

  The Hive Caves

  • You'll have to walk them all. Look out for pieces of amber and some very nasty blue spidery things. You must kill them (careful, you can get poisoned). You should also find in a nest (or a messy bit of something or other), around here, a fine armour. You will come a chasm and you won't be able to get round it on the south side unless you are the Lizard. Alternatively, hack away at the overhanging stones in front of the chasm to create a path. You need to be Luther to do this, and it's worthwhile, so that you don't have to rely on changing at the right moment. Get across.
    
    

    If you head roughly E to some lava (jump from one slab of rock to another), you will come to two statues guarding a large sword - I don't know what this is all about, but if you want it, grab the sword and get out very quickly, otherwise you get crushed to death.

    Towards the north, you will find a pathetic little pile of bones which belong to the girl you saw in the intro. And please don't mutter "serves her right!" Move on to the E of here and you'll meet her mother. This means you've rescued her, because now you've killed the nasties she feels free to buzz off to her village. Before you follow her, just go round here to the NW. You will come to a tiled room. Before you enter it, note the runes to the right, on the wall. Enter the room and look around. This is, in fact, a lift - but you can't use it yet. Make your way all the way back to...

  The Village

  • This time, the senior citizen will let you through. Go in, visit absolutely everywhere and talk to absolutely everybody. After you've talked to the magician fellow, you can nick anything you can lay your hands on around him - particularly, get the Speaking Stone on the floor, to the right of him. He is able to mend that broken sword... in exchange for an orb of power.
    
    

    A visit to the clandestine merchant is worth the effort. He will offer you Kit'yara's firesword in exchange for a spot of murder. In the meantime, pick up the key on the right and the green poison alongside. This key will open some of the locked doors in the village: apart from a lot of ingredients, you can pick up a really nice crossbow. Every third shot, it snares your attacker, giving you an edge. Don't make up your mind yet about that murder. Take that decision later - remember that, if you commit it, you won't be able to come back to the village. Don't neglect to visit the tavern. When you've finished doing the rounds, you have a date on a bridge and you know you must go to the Monastery. This is roughly to the SE of the map, I'm sure you'll find it.

  The Monastery

  • When you enter it, click first on the arch leading outdoors and talk to the brother you'll meet there. Exit by using the arrow which will appear at the bottom of the screen when you move the cursor there.
    
    

    Next, click on the archway to the left. You have an interesting conversation with Dawn. Exit. Click on the door directly in front of you and you have an even more interesting conversation. Now you know you have to get a copy of the runes with the wax (so make sure you have two bits of wax), and you have a flute which will let you use the lift you saw before in the Hive Caves, and which leads to...

  The Old Caves

  • Make your way to the Hive Caves. Have another look at the runes before you enter the room with the lift, just to remember their order. Step on the square platform sticking out and use the flute by right clicking it on the portrait. The lift will come up. Step on it. You will see a stick with runes on it. The top one corresponds to the top floor (the one you are in) - let's call it the 1st floor. You can visit all the other floors by clicking on each of the runes.
    
    

    2nd floor: touch the three hanging blocks. They will drop into place and a fountain will appear, which heals you if you are hurt.

    3rd floor: a poisonous creature guards a hole in the wall. I found I could kill it from a distance with the wonderful crossbow I got at the village. You can crouch and go through the hole to a chamber. Pick up what you see and search the nest for a net.

    4th floor: pick up the Speaking Stone on the floor and crouch to go through the tunnel. You are on another floor. Press the keys around the cat block in the same order and number of times which you saw by the entrance to the lift in the 1st floor. This opens a door up a ramp. Go up and manoeuvre the blocks in the correct niches (which match the symbol on each block), with the cats facing front. You will notice that, if you try to transfer the blocks, as they are, directly into the niches, the tend to be facing edge first and get stuck - if you see this is the case, move the block all over the room so that next time you approach the niches with it, the block is square on. The blocks will turn the right way around automatically as soon as they are in. This is rather tricky and will try your patience somewhat. However, once they are all in, this opens up a couple of chambers which contain a bow and a shield. Picking them up will cost you health points. In the room with the niches, now filled and barred, there is a hole in the wall. It could be worth your while to hang around till you turn into the Lizard and go in to retrieve the goodies. Find your way to the lift and call it by pressing the green tile on the green pedestal. Step on the lift and look at the stick with the buttons - we seem to have down two floors and we are now on the 6th. Go to the next floor, i.e., the 5th. On the 5th floor, turn the blocks so that all the cats are facing forward. This opens up a secret passage - if you follow the right wall (carefully) you will come to a pile of rocks with an arm sticking out. You can get the ring, which is magical. Gross. It's supposed to heal you and even resurrect you, but it didn't do this fellow much good. No point in going on further down. Nothing there except one of those nasty blue spiders. Go back to the lift.

    6th floor: we've been there.

    7th floor: if you are the Beast at the moment, wait till you are Luther. Step on the round room, grab the scroll and keep walking around the edges to avoid the large rolling boulders. By the way, this type of scroll contains a regeneration spell and it's worth it's weight in gold to you. Keep it, and others you might find, for those critical moments when you've run out of magic points and are on the point of dying.

    8th floor: Have a look around. A passage leads to a lit room, but there is a rockfall when you try to follow it. At the next passage, you will notice a niche in the wall composed of two tiles with cats on them and another tile in the middle, with an indentation on it. Use the flute on this tile. Advance with care - if you see some blades on the wall, wait till they explode. Move along and to your left - as you go through here a boulders falls through the roof and opens up a pit. Try pressing the tiles either side of the wall, I couldn't figure out what that did. I mean, a passage opened up leading nowhere and then a pedestal rose from the floor and I couldn't do anything with it. Is this a red herring I see before me, or am I too dumb to see the obvious? Light the burner and step into the pit. By clicking on the beast to the right, you get one of those magic stones. Click on the left and you've found the runes - couldn't see them, myself. Take two copies by clicking two pieces of wax on them. Go back to the monastery but use the exit to the thorn maze. As you come out of the caves, you meet Dawn. At the end of the conversation, give her one of the copies of the runes. Continue on your way. At the monastery, give the other copy of the runes to Brother Julian, and you will get an orb of power. Take the orb to the other brother in the garden - he shows you how to use it, but I'm too dim to understand what he was going on about. Finally, speak to Dawn in the Library. As you leave, she gives you a very useful spell. Now, if you click on the door to the left of the picture, you'll meet a very odd chap called Rix. Go through the other door and you will come to a room full of crates. If you pile them up in front of the bookcase, you can get up there and break it with a weapon. You can then jump into the...

  Dark Halls

  • I fought my way all the way up the stairs without finding anything terribly useful, apart from the plasma staff (and I don't know how useful that is), a couple of other things and a few scrolls in the bookcases. You have to be careful here when you explore, and not only because of the blue nasties which attack you. The walls close behind you as you advance, so go slowly and don't be in a rush to climb up the stairs. Keep opening the slats on the walls and peer into other rooms. A tantalizing sight! Do your best to get into them. For instance, in the case of the very first room, to the right of the entrance, when you open the slat you will see inside a crate. Poke it with your finger to reveal the explosives inside. Cast Spark at it and a hole will be blown in the wall, crouch and go in. Pick up the scrolls. An oval chamber to the NE contains two nasties - find the chains quickly, pull them and daylight will come flooding in. The nasties disappear; pick up the red fruit, which cures poisoning. One chamber worth getting into was through an opening in the S, going N. You enter a room, hack the wall with the crack and pop in to find some really good stuff.

    Eventually, you'll reach the last floor and you will be trapped. Ignore the large circular room to the left as you advance and move to the metal door at the end of the passage. Save your game. Pile up a couple of crates by this door, but open them first clicking on their tops. Then step well back and fire the plasma staff (which you get when you meet and kill Rix) at them. They will explode and destroy the door. Enter and pick up all the goodies you can, particularly the Speaking Stone. And now, save again and have a quick look at the circular room. All right? Reload and open two crates: pick up one. Manoeuvre it to the left and, counting the bricked-up windows, move the crate under the sixth. Go back and get the other crate and pile it on top. Then, step back and fire the plasma staff at the crates and, when the bricks blow up, jump through the hole back to the jungle. I think I must have missed something, because otherwise this was a pretty pointless exercise. Still.

    OK, now you are back in the jungle: decision time. You could a) Go to Kit'yara and swap your orb for the firesword; b) Give the orb to the Magician so that he mends the broken sword (I have a feeling this is important; remember the commentary on one of the paintings?) and afterwards; c) kill the captain and get your reward -the "merchant" will let you out through the back (you can't go back to the village, but do you want to?). Or don't kill the captain (if you do, you might as well pop in and do the ruler in - he's got useful items about his person). Up to you. Wander around southwards to find Kit'yara who is now in the jungle (if you haven't found her already) - she will give a you knife for her son. Hang on to it - it's important. Before you head E to the bridge you might like to hang around for a while and kill plenty of those cats to build up experience points. Believe me, you won't want to tangle with the beasts in the next part of the game, since it's pitch dark and you can't see them. Also, once you are across the bridge, you won't be able to come back - so if you've left any item you think important laying about, don't forget to retrieve it before you cross. By the same token, discard here anything you really don't need, such as the lesser weapons and armour. Combining reagents at this point will probably give you more room in the inventory. You are going to need it.

    When you do get near the bridge, you'll meet your four-armed friend. After a conversation, he will lead you across. You follow him automatically. Watch what happens. You are now in...

  The Savage Jungle

  • Advance and you speak to Daniel automatically. Give him the knife his mother gave you. At the end of the conversation, the wild ones scatter - pick up the knife off the floor. At this point you might like to examine your inventory and discard anything you feel you don't need just yet - you can always come back and retrieve it. Leave room in your inventory because you are going to find many things. A few of them are some of those strawberry-like fruits (remember, they cure poisoning), those green light eggs thingies (they light up the surroundings) and a fish (allows you to see what is going on behind you - what's wrong with just looking round, I ask myself).

    You will find some traps covered with straw on the ground - they can be tripped, if you are careful (save first), and then the rope which holds the stone can be cut. But I have no idea what this is all in aid of.

    You will meet horrible little bird-like creatures. Mostly, they won't attack you if you leave them alone. However, if you do attack them, they poison you - others join in and fight you from a distance. Once dead, though, you can get a poison sac from them, and if you click this on the weapon circle, you'll poison your blade.

    OK, keep roughly to the right to find the Temple to the south. When you get there, watch what happens. You have to go to the mountains for a key. I'll save you the trouble of going to the far E to the mountains, just now - a huge dragon will have you for breakfast because you don't yet have what you need to neutralize it. Instead, go back to where you started and keep left this time. By the river, you'll find the fish I told you about. Round about here there is a building with a barred door you cannot open. Go to the back, wait till you are the Lizard and enter through the hole by the boulder. Inside, some interesting items. You will be able to open the door from here.

    Keep exploring. If you come to a building in which there is a semicircle of torch stands, lighting them will allow you to reach the door above - however, you need some sort of key. To the N, you will come to the settlement of the wild ones. The guard will let you pass when you hand him Daniel's knife. Speak to Daniel then leave. Step back. Click on the right, on a campfire and speak to the herbalist - you can help herself to some of her stuff, if you want. Step back. Click on the circular building and talk to the Shaman. He suggests you join the tribe and bring him a SilverLeaf, giving you the key to the cemetery. If you click on the right in his hut, you'll meet an old friend. OK, you can leave now and go...

  To the Cemetery

  • Go in. If you haven't listened to the Speaking Stones yet, do so now (just click them on the portrait). Dump them here and anything else you don't need immediately. Use the key on the gate and go in. Walk around entering the buildings which are already open. Pick up any orbs you see laying around (watch the floor). Open the tombs and look inside. If you see stairs going down, don't use them yt. Just remember where they are (mark the building on your map). You will notice than some buildings are locked, and that beside them there are statues with open mouths. If you click on them, you will see at the bottom of the pedestals light patterns of different colours. Three, to be precise - yellow, blue and white. Hm. Make a note on your map of which colour applies to which building, as you go around. Count their number (i.e., so many yellow, so many white, so many blue). When you can't enter any more buildings leave the cemetery and go SW...

  
  To the Ruins

  • You'll see a circular pit in the ground surrounded by statues. Go to the tree trunk laying across. Jump onto it and save your game before you start negotiating your way downwards (at times, you'll have to jump - keep looking down). You will do it eventually. Find the entrance to the ruins. There are pretty dangerous monsters here, so save a lot. It's also very dark and you can't really see where you are going; what with that and the monsters hassling you, you have your work cut out to explore this place.
    
    

    Fortunately, I got turned into a Lizard as I got through, so I ran like a scared rabbit to the N and then turned to my left (W). Hugging the left or right wall, whichever seemed safer at the time, I didn't even pause for breath till I got to the Tower. Keep casting Spark to see where you are going, chances are you'll light a torch or something. Indeed, in this area you have to light orbs on pedestals to move on. For instance, lighting one of this will bring down a bridge so that you can get to the Tower.

    Inside the Tower, you'll notice a staircase you cannot climb. Find the orb on a pillar and cast Spark. This destroys the forcefield and allows you to go up, but before you start congratulating yourselves, look who's coming down the stairs! I hope you have changed into something hefty, otherwise you'll have to run around till you do. Kill the beast and nip up. On the first floor you come to you'll see a claw. Place one of those glass orbs you found (the empty ones, not the ones with a sword in them). It will start doing weird things. Retrieve it - you will see it has changed to white. Has the penny dropped? Yes, this is what you need to open the closed doors in the cemetery. If you've counted the colours in the cemetery you'll know you only need one white orb.

    Right, now you've got it, use Spark on the dark orb on the pedestal to remove the next forcefield. Go up, there is nothing on the next floor. Do the necessaries and go up again. Here you will find a beast who talks to you (couldn't understand a word) and then attacks you. Fight it and kill it. Take the bracers - the dead beast talks to you and all I could make out is that with these bracers you can talk to the dead. Right, no need to go any further.

    You can go all the way down; on the ground floor, you can go round the stairs, light an orb and go down to find a pair of gauntlets. Go up and out of the Tower. If you keep to your right, you will come to a room with a mirror. Walk through it. You'll find yourself in a room with three mirrors - the one to the left takes you to the Savage Jungle and leaves you there. The one on the right takes you back to where you've just been. The one in front takes you to the cemetery, so go through it. Note where you are - you can use this teleporter to go back to the Dracoid Ruins when you want to. (Take with you: Bracers of the Dead)

  The Cemetery

  • OK, go to the building in which you saw stairs going down. When you descend you'll find it hard going because it's very dark and you have to keep consulting the map to see where you are. Keep casting Spark - with a bit of luck you'll hit the burners and you'll get a bit of light. You will also be hassled by very nasty ghostly things. You need to go N first and then W. You are looking for a lit room in which there is a claw like the one you saw in the Ruins. There should also be an orb on the floor. Put what you've got in the claw - you should have at least two yellow orbs, now.
    
    

    Leave and let's start methodically opening all the buildings which can be opened. Always look inside the tombs and on the floor - look at the walls, as well. Go to the first to the NW and enter it. Look around. A lever by the door opens a building to the S. Go to it. You will see a barrel inside the door. Go past it and collect another orb. Go to the barrel, click on it to turn it on its side and again to get it rolling. Follow it. Now, wasn't that fun? I tried to see what was in the barrel by casting Spark - bad idea. It wasn't dark, as I thought, that was oil on the floor! What you have to do here is use a Dragon Blood on the portrait, then put it on the ground and back right out of the building. It explodes and uncovers an underground complex. Jump in.

    It's very dark in here, so keep casting Spark and hope you'll hit a burner. What you are looking for here is another claw which turns the orbs blue. You only need two, at the moment. Going east-ish, you'll find two lots of balustrades, jump over them and you'll reach the claw which turns the orbs yellow, also you'll be able to find the stairs and get out. So carry on opening buildings, finding orbs and going to charge them (in one of them you will also find a fine crossbow). In one of the buildings you will find the ghost of a priest, who won't give you the SilverLeaf until you do him a favour, but he does give you his urn. What's a ghost urn?, you ask yourselves.

    Make sure you have opened all the buildings. You should now have three blank orbs. If you charged too many, you can discharge them by using them on Luther. Now go to the teleporter to... (Take with you: Valkyrie Crossbow)

  The Dracoid Ruins

  • As soon as you arrive, you could go to the Tower and get one of the orbs charged white. That's that done. Now, you are going to have a tough time. For one thing, you are going to change into the wrong creature every few seconds. For another, you've no idea what's out there.
    
    

    Use the Lizard to light up as many torches/orbs as you can, keep him moving. The Beast is absolutely wonderful at killing gorgons and snake dragons - he seems to be immune to their poison and hardly gets hurt at all, but he is totally hopeless for everything else. Luther is fine for lighting things and manipulating things, and can also fight the creatures - at a cost. Once last thing: save before you venture into water.

    You want to reach the NE of the map so, from the bridge after the Tower, head roughly E, S, N, E, S, E, N, W. You will see what I mean as the map unfolds. You should be reasonably well N now; you'll come to a river. Cross it and you'll find a square building, roughly midpoint between E and W. Searching around here you should find a statue of Belail. Mark this spot on your map. Go back to the river. Instead of crossing straight E, wade a little to the N to find a parallel passage. Follow this, skirting the river and later a large lake.

    Quite a way along, you'll see an entrance to the right. Follow this and you'll come to an antechamber. What looks like a large boulder on the floor is in fact the body of the priest. Pick it up and manoeuvre it into the chamber and onto the slab. Light the two orbs and the body will be incinerated - use the urn the ghost gave you on the ashes to collect them. Now all you have to do is to get back to the teleporter. A piece of cake. Get back to...

  The Cemetery

  • OK, you know what to do, just go to the ghost and give him the urn. Will he give you the SilverLeaf? Hah! No use saying you've urned it. You won't get it till you do what he says. Right, you might as well go and charge the other two orbs, one blue and one yellow. When you've done that, go find the large wall with the symbol on it (to the S of the building in which the ghost was). Use the key on the symbol and an underground passage will appear. Go in and place the orbs in the boxes (just try each one, they will only accept the right one). Then the door opens and you get to talk to the ghost of the King, who, guess what, wants you to do something for him. Sigh. Collect his corpse off the tomb and head for the teleporter. At least you know where you are going, this time.

  
  The Ruins, yet again

  • Considering you did a very good job of mopping up monsters the last time, you might like to explore the ruins properly, since there is some interesting stuff around and at least another Speaking Stone. Me, I had so many items already, I needed a wheelbarrow to cart them around. So, if you can't be bothered, just head for the building in which you saw the statue of Belial, which you no doubt marked on the map. When you cross the river, instead of going to the building were the statue is, skirt around it to the W and N and clear the area of nasties - this is because you are going to be coming here in a minute and you really don't want to be hassled at that point.
    
    

    OK, go to the statue and use the corpse you are carrying on the golden container to the left. Watch. The statue comes to life. Follow it. You will enter a narrow passage - be on the look out for an entrance to your left. When you see it, save the game, go inside, have a look - to your left, there is a wooden contraption, could be a table. All right. Reload and continue following the statue. Watch what happens. As soon as you have control, save. Look at your map. Head for the building with the table (be quick), and when you get there, jump on it. You'll float up. As you near the top of the waterfall, step onto the other table and then jump into the gap. So far, so good. Follow the passage and turn to your left, ignore the hole with the rock in it and enter the next passage - this takes you upwards and to an exit. On the floor, a wooden door. Because this is rather tricky, save again. Move the wooden door onto the water in front and, hanging on, step on it. You should float up to the entrance to the Ruins.

  Savage Jungle

  • Turn over, you are snoring. As you wake up by the flooded ruins you'll meet Dawn; she'll ask about the bracers - give them to her and she'll give you a speaking stone and an amulet. Now go back to the cemetery and talk to the King's ghost. You won't understand a word. So what's new? Leave and pick up the spell you'll see on one of the boxes. You will also see a silver tree. Pick up a few leaves.
    
    

    Go to the settlement and see the Shaman. Give him the SilverLeaf and he'll tell you you must fight. Do so, don't hold back and have the healing spell ready. After a while the fight is stopped and everybody is good friends. Now go back to the Shaman and he will give you the potion and also a spell. OK, time to head for the Claw Mountains. You are aiming E/SE. If you see a spot surrounded by broken down walls, save, go in and have a look. You'll probably get killed, but at least you'll know what's down there. Not that it will do you any good.

    When you get to the river, you'll see a huge tree. Push it and either climb over and then jump or, if you are the Lizard, crawl through and jump to the tree on your left. That way you can get down without getting hurt. Either way, head northwards with great care, hiding behind the boulders as you move. Mix the SilverLeaf with the potion and then, at an opportune moment, toss it at the dragon. He'll drop off and you can enter...

  The Claw Mountains

  • As soon as you are through, you'll meet Dawn again, who suggests you look for the Dream Stone while she looks for the Citadel. You can start exploring around here, bearing in mind that ice paths are slippery and the snow is unstable. Whenever possible, hug the walls along your way. If you think you should be able to get through somewhere, try a fire spell. Before you get to where you really need to be, there are a few minor adventures you might like to undertake; they are not absolutely necessary to complete the game and they are also a bit of a pain in the neck. However, it's up to you.
    
    

    Do, by all means, go S and have a look - nothing there. Come back and try N. An interesting village and a reagent. Nothing else. You really need to go E over the ice bridge. If you hug the right wall, you will come to a cave covered in skeletons. Inside, a sleeping beast. If you are feeling belligerent, you can kill it; but this means his mates will hassle you the rest of the way. You might prefer to let sleeping cats lie. Wait till you become the Lizard and enter the hole in this cave. You can pick up more magic stones and also light one of those orbs. Leave. This action means that a building emerges in the middle of the lake. On top of the building there is a very necessary axe (Great Blizzard Axe), and you must leap onto the ice floes to get as near as you can and pick it up - just keep clicking on it and eventually you'll get it. You can be in the actual water for a very short while without dying. Then, jumping from floe to floe, get as near to the shore as you can and take a running leap out. Continue heading towards the NE.

    Hugging the right wall, you'll come to another entrance and you'll hear the sound of rushing water. Stick like glue to the wall as you advance; there is an avalanche waiting to take place and you could well go down with it. If you've made it in one piece and peer over the side, you'll see some wooden pegs on the cliff side going down. You don't really need to, but this is what you could do. Climb down the pegs (save before you try) and make sure you don't fall in the water at the end, but rather turn right and jump safely onto the snow. Cross one of the ice bridges, find a funny looking wall behind some crossed sticks and cast a fireball at it to melt it. Wait till you turn to the Lizard, go into the caves and you will come out at a place where, right in front of you, there is a warrior holding a bow frozen into the wall. Go to the end of right ledge, fireball the guy and quickly pick up the bow (just click on it) before it disappears into the water. Leave the caves.

    Go half way through one of the ice bridges and wait till an ice floe floats under you. Jump onto it and wait till you go past a cave - jump in and get a ring and another recipe. Then wait for an opportunity to jump back onto dry land. A perfect waste of time. You'll have to climb up those wooden pegs again. What you really need to do is to stay up there after the avalanche and carry on along the right wall till you come to another entrance. Follow this and you'll find Kenneth's dead body. If you click on it you get a photo of his girlfriend. Cast it against a wall and it smashes, producing a highly protective amulet. And now, there is nothing for it - you'll have to jump somehow across to the next complex. Examine the map and place yourself in front of the bit which projects the most from the other side, then take a running leap. When you are across, follow along and you will see Baccatta in a bad state and he tells you the Roloi have Dawn. Continue on till you get to...

  The Citadel

  • You in a lot of trouble here. Very nasty creatures indeed are going to attack you at every turn. The only really effective way of dealing with them is to get right up close and bash away with your best weapon. However, they never keep still and they erect pink, deadly barriers between you and them. If you nevertheless persist and dodge around and pursue them, they take flight and even go through walls. Since you must kill them all, you might as well get practice just as you go through the door, when only one will be there to attack you. If you chase it around you will see it disappears through an opening in the wall (with your back to the entrance, this is to the left, just around the corner). I was still packing the Valkyrie crossbow, so I shot and shot at that opening (use Q to rise your sights) until I got it. How did I know? When you click on the weapon circle, if you are hitting a creature, even if you cannot see it, there will be a splash of blood. When the blood doesn't show any more, the creature is dead. Once that's done, you are about to enter the first chamber. Click on the orb in the middle of the room and go to your right (E). You will see eggs in a lake of poison. Go around shooting them all and dodging behind the columns to avoid the rays being shot at you. Make sure you destroy all the eggs.
    
    

    Now go out and go W. You will enter a very large circular chamber, chock-a-block full of those creatures. Naturally, you will change into the Beast and the Lizard when most inconvenient - it is best to be Luther here all the time, but no such luck. You have to have your heal spell ready at all times if you are going to survive, so you won't be able to stop yourself from changing.

    There are obviously various strategies to deal with this deadly section, but here is one. Concentrate on destroying the creatures first - don't touch anything - lighting globes seems to drive them nuts. Hug either the left or the right wall looking for cover and trying to spot the holes up in the wall though which the creatures come and go. Try to find a good place from which to strafe those holes - once no more creatures are left in them, move on to the next. If you change into the Beast or the Lizard, go hide somewhere and use them to let your mana and health points recover. The Beast can do a lot of damage if he can get close to the creatures, but he is so slow that he is unlikely to do so. Better keep very still and recover. The Lizard doesn't stand a change, so either run like fury or keep very still, too, somewhere safe.

    When you feel you've pretty well cleared the larger part of the monsters, go around clicking on all the orbs you can see. There is an important one in the shape of an eye behind a large column. The orbs around the centre open up slabs to offer you lots of reagents. Take what you like, but make sure you get a dragon blood, silverleaf, aloe, poison sac and light like egg - if you have these already, just make sure you don't use them, since you are going to need them later on.

    While you are wandering around you will see an entrance to a passage to the N. Move along here and click on an orb to open the door. You'll get shot at. Go through and you'll come to a round poison pond with a teleporter in the middle. Jump on it and you'll see Dawn. You'll need the Dream Stone to get her out. Leave. If you continue along here you'll come to another passage and another teleporter. You'll see imprisoned women. OK, out you go. If you have been all around and killed all the creatures, go to the E where you'll see some pink steps. Jump up on them - you'll find it easier to use the ledges on the actual wall to help you reach each step. You should make it all the way to the top without too much trouble. You will see a bridge forming and disappearing very quickly. Step in front of the machine spewing the plasma, save your game and, as soon as the bridge appears, run across. Walk around here till you find an entrance and go in. Watch. At the end of the scene, the beast talks to you and asks you to come near. Oh, yeah? I used the net on it and then moved in with the axe - it backed away from me, and I just leisurely shot it with the Valkyrie bow. Easy Peasy. Get the Dream Stone from the claw and step on the teleport. You come out near the entrance - use the stone to open the door and go back in. First, go to the imprisoned women. Click on the weapon circle and the cover on the left will fall. Pull the lever to open the bars. If you've missed any of the creatures outside, the women won't come out and you'll have to go searching for stragglers and dispatch them -one good way of attracting them is to turn the orbs on and off. You'll know you've killed them all when the women leave the prison.

    Go to Dawn and use the stone on the right of the forcefield and she will be free. She will give you another spell and will tell you she'll meet you at the Temple. Don't forget to recover the Dream Stone. Make your way back to the circular room and find the column with the ramp going up. Near the top you'll find a teleporter which will leave you by the entrance. Now you have the very tiresome task of finding your way out of here. When you come to the broken ice bridge, bide your time and jump onto a floating ice floe. Wait till you get reasonably close to the accessible land - actually, you can only clamber up on the left bank. You'll then be at the foot of those wooden pegs. Jump all the way up, saving every time you are successful. You should be Luther to do this. Don't try for the very last one. Just face the cliff and jump up. (Take with you: The Great Blizzard Axe, the Dream Stone and the reagents I mention above)

    OK, from here on is reasonably easy. Get back to the Savage Jungle, get to the cliff side, in front of the green bit (save first) and take a running jump at it. Now it's just a matter of getting to...

  The Temple

  • As you come in, you'll notice a corpse on the ground. Leave it for now and open the door (both panels). Go in and you will see an altar with two bowls. In front, to your left, a tapestry can be moved to reveal a passage. Leave it for now. Go E instead and have a look at the chapel. Either side of a second altar, an aloe leaf and poison paint. Aha! Leave them and go back to the first altar. Put an aloe leaf on the left bowl and poison paint (made with a venom sac and a light like egg - I hope to brought those with you from the Citadel). A noise at your back will alert you that things have changed. Look and you will see a slab. What a lovely place to put a corpse on! Go back and get the stiff from outside and place it on the slab. Poke it and it will disappear in a flash.

    OK, let's go E. To the left of the altar, a secret door opens out into another room. Another door appears to lead to a blank wall, but in fact, if you step in and close the door, a passage will appear. However, no need to go down it because it's actually a way out rather than a way in. Go back and around to the second altar; pick up the aloe and put it in one bowl and then the poison paint and put it in the other. A ghostly ball of light appears. Turn around and go out into a courtyard in which there is a fountain - in front of it, a green shard. Get it. You will notice that this shard matches exactly the indentation in that round building we saw in the jungle but had to leave for lack of a key. Take my advice and forget it. If you go to all the trouble of getting there, clambering up the steps and then opening the grate, what you'll find inside is simply not worth the bother. Honestly. Still, it's up to you.

    Back in the courtyard, you will have noticed that a hole has appeared in the ground. You can do several things, now, whichever appeals to you the most. You can go down and along the passage, you can back off, hack at the columns and watch the ceiling fall down, or you can get in, hack at two columns, then duck as you hit the last (best done as the Beast). Me, I brought the ceiling down and backed off smartly. I like to have my back covered - goodness knows what's down there. OK, you can go back to the first altar, remove the tapestry and begin investigating. If you keep left, you will see a large chamber with two floating dishes - empty, of course. The next room, on the left and past some beds (amongst which is a lightning crystal) has some sort of a fountain - if you press the button, an aloe plant grows). In the next room to the right of the beds, there are some chairs and tables. As I was looking around, a horrible blue spider barged in. I followed the tunnel and got myself into a room in which there were three coffins. Looking inside, I found a flute.

    I walked across to another passage and went left. Here things got a bit sticky because, whereas I was most polite and forbore to interfere with the spiders, they very rudely attacked me at every turn and made my progress very difficult indeed. And there were more of them than of me. Make sure you don't change shape while fighting, or you are a dead duck. The Lizard, above all, doesn't stand a chance. If the spiders run away from you, don't go after them - let bygones be bygones. You haven't a hope of destroying them all. At any rate, I found my corpse again and pressed a key by it. It moved elsewhere. I noticed it was on a conveyor belt, and watched for a while until more spiders distracted me. When I looked again, it was obvious that it had been minced. I walked around to the back of the machine and found a box full of... full of... Gulp. The next obvious thing to do was to transfer this box onto the next conveyor belt, spiders permitting, and then walk around the back of the machine to see what we got this time. In fact, it was a statuette.

    Now is the time to explore around, consulting the map, pressing the odd button here and there and killing a few spiders. You should then find, in a newly opened niche between the first altar and the second, a whole lot of statuettes just like yours behind bars. Only one square is empty, so obviously you will put the statuette in. Great, you get another shard.

    Go back to the room with the floating dishes and, very carefully, place the shards on them. A wall opens up. Go through it and you will see three portals. Go first through the one in the centre - you will be on a tilting floor. If you have one of those light like eggs use it to see what you are doing. The idea here is to press two buttons either side when the floor is tilted in a way in which you can reach them. You'll be hassled by those bird-like creatures you met in the Savage Jungle. Ignore them, if you can. When the floor is level, go across and pick up a statue. Leave.

    Through the portal to the right, you just have to brave the flaming passages to get a mist of doom spell and press a button. When you've pressed all three buttons, a bridge will come down at the other end of the room and you can cross it to get another statue. Leave. The last portal leads to my least favourite pastime - jumping. First you have to press two buttons, to the NW and to the SW. Then you have to get in through the opening at the other end. Use the map to see the best way to jump to get to where you need to be, and save often. Getting through the opening is not as tough as it seems - line yourself correctly with it and take a running leap.

    You'll be on a narrow passage way, walk carefully along here, braving the fireballs, and collect some regeneration spells and the last statue. You will be teleported to the entrance of this particular puzzle. Leave. Behind these three portals there is another entrance. To the right, you will see an indentation for the flute - how unoriginal. Advancing along here you will see some blades. However, a door to your right will allow you to bypass them. As you emerge into the corridor, cling to the right wall as you walk forward, otherwise you'll trigger a trap. At the end of the corridor, don't press the buttons. Move into the chamber instead and place the statues in the pedestals thoughtfully provided for you. Some stairs will appear.

    Go up them and you'll cross an unstable bridge. Have a look around. Nothing here, yet this must lead somewhere. I tried the bridge again to see what happened, but nothing did. I even jumped up and down. To pass the time, I killed some of those bird-creatures and, what do you know, their dead weight was enough to move the bridge downwards. There I met with Belial, or a Belial look-alike (they've lost me, by now) and had a surprisingly easy fight of it. Once the beast was dead, I went through the only doors available. Coming to a stand, I placed the Dream Stone on it. Then there is an animated bit and you see the Dracoid City emerge from the water, and you take a Number 9 Dragon to it. (Take with you: a silverleaf, dragon blood)

  The City

  • You'll start in what looks like a balcony - use the only door there is and take a lift down. You are now in the main part of the city. Look, why don't you walk around to see all there is? Then I can tell you what to do. By the way, don't tangle with the ambulating blobs if you can help it - if you do, though, you'll find that the Great Blizzard Axe makes short work of them.
    
    

    OK? Are you back at the starting point? Right, now we'll advance directly south, going around the main square. You should be at a large fountain. Look up and you should see a globe floating over the spout. Attack it with the Great Blizzard Axe (GBA). The water will overflow. Marvellous. Now turn around and head N. Turn right at the square and head towards the round building at the SE. Along here, on your right, you will see an opening. Go in and you will see a chip floating on a fountain spout. Hack at the fountain with the GBA and it will freeze. Break it and get the chip. Out and carry on towards the SE. To your right, another opening. Pop in. As you explore around here, you will see pairs of items. You will also have noticed a stand in front of some sort of altar. It transpires that if you take one of the items of a pair and place it on the stand, its fellow will appear on the altar. Whereas most of the items are not all that desirable, I found it worth while to use the following pair: ring of regeneration/ancient magic stone. So I placed all the ancient magic stones I had about my person and got as many rings as I could carry, and found them jolly useful later on. You might decide otherwise. At any rate, leave when you have finished.

    Proceed to the round building at the SE. You will see a tall, black column in the middle with doors which don't open - the same as the other round buildings in the four corners of the map. Push in, look around and jump over a ditch and you will see some doors - go through. The idea here is to keep going through doors which give access to other doors (some only lead to blank walls with an inaccessible opening). If you can't get through by way of a door, try the next along, and so on. Eventually you'll come out in a large chamber with an oil lake and the head of Belial. Use the Dragon Blood here and get out fast. This does something or other, oh, I don't know, something terribly important. When you come out, you will find, on returning to the circular building, that the doors on the black column are open. Pick up the lightning storm crystal and go up the stairs. You will see a box and a teleporter. Move the box into the teleporter (gently, otherwise it goes right through and out the other side) and enter the teleporter yourself. At the other side, move the box into the square hole in the floor and enter the teleporter again. You'll be back where you started (these moves have to be repeated at each of the buildings in the corners of the map).

    Right, leave this building and head for the one on the NE. As you proceed along, you will see an opening to the N of you. Pop in, if you like, and you'll see statues at either side. You can safely leave this area for now, but mark it in your map. Leave, and continue to make for the NE. When you get to the round building there, you'll know what to expect - further in, there is a black column with locked doors. What you do here is the following. Place a SilverLeaf under the red glass pyramid, turn around and click on the yellow hexahedron (it waters the plant) and then move forward and click on the hourglass (it accelerates the passing of time) and you will see that a SilverLeaf tree has grown inside the pyramid and broken it. Watch how the red ball inside it moves forward and gets the doors open on the black column. Go inside - you know what to do. By the way, you can also grow other useful vegetables on the plots either side of the pyramid, and by the same means. All I had on me was aloe, and I really didn't need any more of its leaves since they weren't all that useful when I was in dire need of healing - but it's up to you. It's fun, anyway.

    OK, now let's head for the NW. As you walk along the road, keep your eyes either side for openings (in one case you'll see a blank wall, but clicking on it will let you through). On your left (I feel like a tour guide!) an opening will lead to a strange scene in which a dragon is having a kip - I could do nothing about it, so I moved on. On the right, another opening will take you to three fountains. Attack them with the GBA to freeze them, and again to destroy them. Place the cube on the platform and then follow the corridor till you come to a wall with bars. Find the other cube and place it on the other platform. Climb on the cube and take a diagonal running leap to get over the wall. Advance along here and up the stairs. Save before you try anything silly. Get your bearings. Grab the chip and run down the stairs and over the water and over the wall, and don't stop until you are safe - the reason being that the ceiling begins to come down and can crush the life out of you.

    You can go now onto the street again and continue on your way. To the right you will see an opening which leads to a chalice on an altar. This is a colossal red herring - I don't know how much time I spent pushing it, pulling it, jumping on it, hacking at it and trying to put things in it. I even tried placing items in the three alcoves round it. A perfect waste of time and, in the long run, it made no difference whatsoever to the outcome of the game. May be you'll think of something I didn't.

    Let's move on, why don't we. As you continue, you will spy another opening on the left. Go in and head for the statue on your left. Click on it. Turn around and walk towards the statue which seems to be across a chasm. Save and start walking boldly towards it over the vacuum - but don't rush and walk straight. If you look down, you'll see that a path is being created beneath you even as you advance. Collect the chip the statue is holding and walk back carefully. Leave.

    OK, when you get to the round building to the NW you will find enough blocks raising and falling to make you dizzy. What you need here is to destroy three items - one is a floating stone and the other two a red blob and a white blob. Once you've done that, you can go in to find the black column - the doors will have been opened and you can do what you have to do. Now we must head SW. Round the square and on, you will find an opening to the right. Another chip is enticingly waved at you - but save before you get it because the chamber in which you are will quickly flood and drown you. Get your bearings and be ready to scamper in double quick time. As you continue along the street you will see an opening to your right. This is where you use the triangular key you've been carting around with you. Each room contains a reagent which you might or might not need - but if you are going to break the glass and get it, be ready to retreat quickly or be crushed to death. None of my antics here did anything to eliminate the glass forcefield in front of the room which contained a table. However, since this made no difference whatsoever to the outcome of the game, I have to assume it was another red herring (or the work of a programmer not it touch with what the rest of the programmers were doing). Actually, it stands to reason that this cannot be important - how many players could be expected to keep the triangular key the first time they play the game?

    Enough of this. Moving on, you will see an opening on your left. If you go in, you will see a deep well in front of you. Either side, a silverleaf plant. Below, as I found out afterwards, is an entrance/exit to the Underground Caverns. Of no importance whatsoever, so let's go on. You will soon arrive at the last round building in the SW. You just put in the chips in the right indentations and the last black column will be open to you. You know what to do. Now, instead of going back into the teleporter, wander outside and click on all four yellow hexahedrons. Go through the nearest teleporter back to the city and this time head for the town square. A building will have emerged in the middle - go in through the shimmering gate and meet yet another clone of Belial. After a heated conversation you will have a fight and, no doubt, kill the beast. Continue walking forth inside till you come to a forcefield. Step into it. Ah. Yes. I think this has something to do with the Mantle. It means that you won't change unless you want to, which is a great relief.

    Leave this building and head for the opening I asked you to mark on your map. As you come in you will notice that there are doors left and right. If you open them all and light up the orbs on the pedestals, a secret panel opens in the room to the SE and, inside, you'll find a scarab. Blessed if I know what THAT does. However, this is not important. What you have to do here is to proceed along the corridor, braving fireballs, to reach a broken-down fountain. Go on to the next room and you'll find a functional fountain. Get in it and hack at the dragon and, when it bleeds, a wall will open at the back. Go through and around and you'll find a teleporter to...

  The Underground Caverns

  • The idea here is to head to the SW of the map. Save very often. Don't tangle with the spiders, there's just too many of them. Slip quietly past and, if at anytime you should be surrounded by them and unable to proceed, reload and be warned to avoid them. Don't mind the odd blow as you walk past, just keep your eye on the red bar and make sure you are not losing too many hit points.
    
    

    Eventually you will reach a round chamber to the SW. To the W of that, you'll find an opening (consult your map) blocked by some tubes - keep hacking at them and advancing and you'll find yourself at another one of those special entrances. Click on the left and you will get to a... a... thingie. Hack at it and you'll be able to go through. You'll find another thingie in the foreground and something green on the right (I hope I'm not getting too technical for you). Click around, hack around and wait a bit and a spider will come along and do something or other - but a gap appears on the left and, by clicking on it, you will get to...

  The Laboratory

  • Watch the bit in which Bacatta has a bash at the enemy. He will give you a horn, which is the only weapon with which you can ultimately destroy Belial - so hang on to it. As soon as you are in charge, turn right and move along. Have a look around - the red liquid from the fountain flows under the wall, and the opening is barred by spears. Look down at them and hack them broken, then change to the Lizard (place the Curse Control in the spell circle and press 3). Jump in and through and turn left. When you get up there, use one of those light like eggs, if you have any left, to see what's ahead. I saw three switches and shot at them to move them, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Next, I found out to my cost that I had to go right.
    
    

    Running first W and then S, I got to a round room which in the map was marked Summoning Chamber. Well, I tried all sorts, and this worked: place the group of spells indicated by a skull (how appropriate) in the spell circle and, aiming accurately at each of the four skulls, cast Lesser Apparition (i.e., press 1); they all end up in the centre of the room and a Demon appears. Fight it and get what it's carrying. Get the corpse and go to the doors - opening them will place you, and the corpse, on a lift. You need to go to a room to the SE of the Summoning Chamber (consult the map) and, once there, find the silver circle on the floor and place your corpse on it. This opens a door to a lift which will take you to...

  The Birthing Chamber

  • You meet Dawn, who has another simple request for you. Aren't you sick of them. Following your nose, you'll come to a blob. Press 5 with the Control Curse in the spell circle. Watch. Fight all the demons which appear (collecting what they are carrying) and then attempt to follow Belial. There is nothing for it - hack away at the door till you get through (in fact, all locked doors in this area have to be destroyed to open them).
    
    

    In the next room you will see some unhealthy mists and contraptions on the ceiling above them. Shatter them with a bow and you will be able to get through. Along the corridor you will come to a chamber with platforms going up and down, and Belial will talk to you from the other side. He conjures up Scotia and you have to fight her - get right up close to her and bash away keeping your eye on your health. Then, leap across to the other side.

    Before you go any further here, approach the next door with caution. Look to your left and you'll see an accident waiting to happen. Leap onto the shelf along the wall on your right, otherwise you'll trip a fireball trap. When you get to the next room, you'll see a lot of stone columns going up and down, also red hot bars and ice columns. By dint of getting myself killed surprisingly often, I discovered that to the W, E and N of the entrance there were a stone slab, a white blob and a red blob to destroy, and this cleared the room of all obstacles. Head for the next room to the N and you'll have to fight a simile of the Draracle - get right up close to him and you'll have no problem. Equip the horn.

    Continue along here and you will finally get to Belial. After a friendly chat, I had the briefest of fights and it was all over. Watch the daft finale. That's it, you've done it.

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