Might and Magic III FAQ(PC game)
FAQ/walkthrough copyright 2004 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net
version 1.0.0

Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. 
However, if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by 
name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I 
am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry.

**** AD SPACE: **** My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762 

Additional kvetching: mail about where to find this game will be ignored. 
Look for the Ultimate Might and Magic Archives on eBay. If it's "out there" 
for free, I don't want to know about it, but hey, I've done it for other 
games, so I won't flame you back if you ask. But I'll ignore you.

Someone made a great site that really encompasses the game here:
http://www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/pc/mm3/

It also has a cheat guide which makes the build-up process irrelevant.

================================

      OUTLINE

  1. INTRODUCTION

    1-1. ABOUT THE GAME

    1-2. HOW TO RUN THE GAME

    1-3. OTHER RESOURCES

    1-4. THIS GUIDE'S PURPOSE

  2. CONTROLS

    2-1. KEYBOARD COMMANDS

    2-2. USING THE MOUSE

    2-3. CHANGES FROM MM2(FOR THE BETTER)

    2-4. PLAYER METRICS AND RATINGS

    2-5. EXPERIENCE

    2-6. ARMOR CLASS TABLE

    2-7. ALL STAR SPELLS

  3. TIME, TIME, TIME

    3-1. METRICS

    3-2. TIME SAVERS

  4. STARTING OFF IN THE TOWNS

    4-1. GETTING PLAYERS AND EQUIPMENT

    4-2. PICKING YOUR FIGHTS: MY PREFERRED ORDER

      4-2-1. CLEARING A1 + FOUNTAIN HEAD

      4-2-2. CLEARING A2

      4-2-3. CLEARING A3

      4-2-4. FOUNTAIN HEAD DUNGEON

      4-2-5. BAYWATCH AND DUNGEON AND A4

      4-2-6. B1 AREA

      4-2-7. B2 AREA

      4-2-8. WILDABAR AND ITS DUNGEON

      4-2-9. ANCIENT TEMPLE OF MOO

      4-2-10. B3 AND B4

      4-2-11. SWAMP TOWN

      4-2-12. BLISTERING HEIGHTS, PART 1

      4-2-13. BLISTERING HEIGHTS CAVERN

      4-2-14. SWAMP TOWN CAVERN

      4-2-15. CLEARING E2

      4-2-16. ARACHNID CAVES

      4-2-17. SLITHERCULT CAVES

      4-2-18. LOOTING THE CASTLES

      4-2-19. ABANDON ALL CAUTION ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE

      4-2-20. C2/C3/D2/D3

      4-2-21. C4/D4/E4

      4-2-22. CASTLE DUNGEONS: WHITESHIELD

      4-2-23. CASTLE DUNGEONS: BLOODREIGN

      4-2-24. CASTLE DUNGEONS: DRAGONTOOTH

    4-3. THE ARENA

  5. MIDDLE GAME

    5-1. THE NECESSARY BITS

      5-1-1. THE FORTRESS OF FEAR

      5-1-2. THE HALLS OF INSANITY

      5-1-3. THE DARK WARRIORS' KEEP

      5-1-4. THE CATHEDRAL OF CARNAGE

      5-1-5. THE TOMB OF TERROR

      5-1-6. THE MAZE FROM HELL

    5-2. STRETCHING THE # OF ORBS OUT TO 31

      5-2-1. DRAGON CAVERN

      5-2-2. THE PYRAMIDS AND THE STORAGE AREAS

        5-2-2-1. CENTRAL COMMAND

        5-2-2-2. AFT STORAGE

        5-2-2-3. FORWARD STORAGE

        5-2-2-4. MAIN CONTROL

        5-2-2-5. MAIN ENGINE

        5-2-2-6. ALPHA SECTOR

        5-2-2-7. BETA SECTOR

    5-3. THE NOT SO NECESSARY BITS

      5-3-1. GREYWIND

      5-3-2. GREYWIND DUNGEON

      5-3-3. BLACKWIND

      5-3-4. BLACKWIND DUNGEON

    5-4. OK, OK, ON WITH IT ALREADY

      5-4-1. THE CHEAP WAY. I WANT OUT!

      5-4-2. WHAT MORE CAN I DO?

  6. SIDE DUNGEONS

    6-1. CURSED COLD CAVERN

    6-2. MAGIC CAVERN

    6-3. DRAGON CAVERN

  7. OTHER AREA OVERVIEWS

  8. FLOW CHART

  9. FLAGRANT CHEATS AND FLY-THROUGH

  10. WEIRD BUGS

  11. VERSIONS

  12. CREDITS

================================

  1. INTRODUCTION

    1-1. ABOUT THE GAME

  Might and Magic III was written for the PC and SNES and is a sequel to MM2. 
I never got around to playing it until ~15 years after completing MM2, but 
when I did, it was worth it. There's not a lot of initial instruction, but 
you have a lot of side quests with your ultimate goal being to find

a) 11 orbs of ultimate power, given to one king(there are 31 total, so you 
can give more to a king for more experience)
b) 6 hologram sequencing cards
c) the escape pods that lead to the setup of Might and Magic IV

  Along the way there may be keys you need to find as well as other items. 
You'll need to make use of one of the classes you didn't see in Might and 
Magic III, unless you get very lucky with a walk-on-water item: Rangers and 
Druids. Rangers:Druids::Paladins:Clerics.

  MM3 has the same structure as MM2 but combats don't have as many enemies, 
and you can see them approaching. You can also clear out certain areas for 
good, and when you return to a dungeon your monster hacking progress will be 
saved. Many of the same spells return, but the outside is a bit bigger(6x4 of 
16x16 grids, not 5x4) and you have some whopping 32x32 dungeons. Again, many 
can be totally irrelevant, and some are best explored only until you find a 
necessary item, but they all house something very interesting.

    1-2. HOW TO RUN THE GAME

  I had trouble running this in Windows's DOS emulator, so I recommend DOSBox 
at dosbox.sourceforge.net. That way you can also have a website in one 
window(see 1.3) and this box in another--or, better yet, this walkthrough in 
another window, and it is easy to flip back and forth. You may need to add 
the line mount c c:\ to the dosbox.conf file, but it's smooth sailing after 
that.

    1-3. OTHER RESOURCES

  Lee Beng Hai(Volume)'s guide is very good. It's on various sites on the web 
and details everywhere you need to go.

  There's a German guide on GameFAQs. Maybe translating it will work well.

  http://www.rpgclassics.com/shrines/pc/mm3/ has information on the whole 
game, pretty much, except for some not strictly relevant dungeons. The 
graphics that are there work wonderfully.

    1-4. THIS GUIDE'S PURPOSE

  First, this guide probably will help you win MM3 on the SNES, but some of 
the control tricks might not work. The timing bugs might be different, too.

  There are a lot of guides out there that have good insights into Might and 
Magic III. Volume(Lee Beng Hai)'s guide outlines everything well, and the 
shrine site at RPGClassics.com is quite well done. There's also a German 
guide that discusses a way through. The German guide may discuss the nuts and 
bolts of how to get through, but my minimal knowledge of German seems to 
indicate maybe it doesn't.

  So what this guide intends to do is to show how to get a quick jump on 
things and get through the game in the shortest possible time. It should also 
include details on how to avoid certain monsters or skip tough combats, which 
becomes particularly important in the Maze from Hell. There's also the 
middle-game bit that can drag and the matter of finding the right hirelings, 
when, and of paying them--or finding ways to use their hard work and legally 
stiff them. Simple stuff like hiring a level 40 thief in Blistering Heights 
to open the $200000 worth of gold chests along with chests containing Ancient 
Artifacts, then dismissing him.

  There's also the matter of starting quickly. Getting up to level 8-10 or 
so, which allows you to have 'cure disease' and avoid temples, is great. How 
to avoid the temples early on? (Except for donations, which are ultimately 
time-efficient.) How can you destroy the outposts for quick experience, or 
build up cash to get skills?

  And then there's the endgame. Which fights are advisable? What about a 
quick way out, snagging the bare minimum 11 power orbs and saving yourself 
time, versus getting all 31 ultimate power orbs?

  Along the way there's the constant trick of keeping your save file backed 
up just in case...because if you die, it's that much extra time that's tacked 
on in the game.

  This guide also assumes that you don't use the mm3edit cheat which helps 
your party a lot. For that, you can just pump up all your skills, get rid of 
the character improvement parts and go searching for items. But it's fun to 
go through the game proper.

  2. CONTROLS/NUMBERS

    2-1. KEYBOARD COMMANDS

  You can pretty much use the arrow keys to move around, with Y/N to enter a 
room. Other commands, positioned on the keyboard from left to right, up to 
down, are:

S = shoot arrows
C = cast a spell
R = rest
B = bash down a potential secret wall in front. If there's nothing there, you 
go forward
D = dismiss someone from your team
Q = quick snapshot of party status
M = view current auto-map
I = inventory of time, spells, etc.
V = view what Corak has to say

F1-F8 = look at player

  Not much to say about many of these commands, although if you hold down S, 
the game shoots a lot more arrows than you need to, and it gets exasperating. 
Bash may not work at first but if you lose five times in a row it's time to 
give it a rest. You can dismiss PC's or NPC's from your team too.

  And if you are fighting against monsters at a distance, before their names 
appear in the upper right to replace the phone-button GUI, you can, if you 
type quickly, cast a spell twice. I.e. while it's barreling through your 
enemies, type C to get two shots, much as you can get two shots in.

  But the most critical command is the [tab] command. With it you can save 
and load games. [tab]-s saves, [tab]-l loads. You can also call Mr. Wizard, 
which is handy in tight spots and, apparently, the Maze from Hell. But in 
this walkthrough you'll learn what to do there. The TAB menu also allows you 
to adjust the music and the sound effects.

  The main trick you need to know with the keyboard is that you can cast two 
spells or fire two shots while opponents fire one. While your spell is 
landing on opponents out of melee range, type C and you will get another shot 
for sure. Often there's some delay after the spell completes but this is a 
good way to make sure. When facing Eliminators who can eradicate your party 
just like THAT, it's pretty important to get this extra chance in.

  Also sometimes you'll see something ahead and run into it and it won't be 
there. Just turn around a bunch and you'll "see" it.

    2-2. USING THE MOUSE

  I really find the mouse a bit wobbly but there's one thing it can do that 
the keyboard can't do. Sidestepping can be very useful in several cases. The 
first, to lessen damage from a trap. Move the mouse around and you'll notice 
the arrow changes, too. When it is bent, that means you will turn and move. 
When it is off to either side, that means you shuffle sideways. The 
difference is this: if you're on a "hot" square that does damage, shuffling 
sideways prevents damage. When coupled with etherealizing onto a hot square, 
it means you can escape damage totally. If you click it too near the center 
it may flip you forwards and backwards, so beware.

  Another way to use the mouse to sidestep is this: if you step forward and 
an enemy appears and casts a spell at you, they won't do so if, from the same 
position(yes, I'm advocating save/reload for even one move--it can make all 
the difference when attacks are lethal) you turn to the side and shuffle in 
the enemy's direction and then you turn to face them.

    2-3. CHANGES FROM MM2(FOR THE BETTER)

  The big one? You can save from anywhere, which means a lot less 
backtracking. TAB-S or TAB-L. And even if you get in a fix you can't get out 
of, you can call Mr. Wizard from the TAB menu.

    2-4. PLAYER METRICS AND RATINGS

  Each primary statistic a player has is given an adjective for its rating. 
They change every 1-2 points at first but, as they get much better, the 
adjective changes more and more rarely. Here's a list below:

Range  |Description   |Bonus to...
-------+--------------+-----
8v      very low      |-2?
?9-10?  low           |-1?
11-12   average       |0
13-14   good          |1
15-16   very good     |2
17-18   high          |3
19-20   very high     |4
21-24   awesome       |5
25-29   super         |6
30-34   amazing       |7
35-39   incredible    |8
40-49   gigantic      |9
50-74   fantastic     |10
75-99   astounding    |11
100-124 astonishing   |12
125-149 monumental    |13
150-174 tremendous    |14
175-199 collosal(sic) |15
200-224 awesome       |16
225-249 awe inspiring |17
250     ultimate      |20

  You can poke around at your player's stats with the arrow keys and see the 
experience til next level, how many attacks and even the maximum hit points. 
The "bonus to" is a modifier of the original ability. For instance if you 
have a weapon that does 3d12, super strength would give you 3d12+6. Without 
speed bonuses your armor might be 20, but with 22 speend it is 25. You can 
see here that when your party gets better, you may want to have a strongman 
for personality or intelligence(for spell points) but for a while sometimes 
placing 5 with a lesser light can help improve their spell points immensely. 
The same goes with sharing endurance points. Although you may want your 
knight as a "gunner" to gain a lot, especially when he needs to go down into 
pits, eventually it's more efficient to give them to your paladin or even 
your suffering sorcerer. At least, until you find the wellsprings of where to 
build the stats incredibly. Everyone will get to 50 eventually with the 
Quatloo Coins you find.

  There is some sort of formula to decide who gets what, in terms of 
intelligence and personality and even endurance. First, by the middle game, 
you should have gems in five digits, and there is one place where you can 
keep reloading stats for gems traded in. It's tough to see where you'll get 
the best return from, but note:

--after you reach 50 points, it's much tougher to improve a visible stat. You 
go from needing 2 to 4 to 5 to 10 to 25.
--Archers and Paladins get points at half the clip spellcasters do. So once 
you get them to 50, it gets you more spell points overall to donate to your 
primary casters. But until then you may want to leave Archers/Paladins 10 
points behind pure casters. Don't sweat the details, though.
--The same goes for your Druid, surprisingly enough, if you have one. They 
gain points at half the clip Clerics/Sorcerers do. Because Druids average 
their gains for personality and intelligence, you may want to keep 
personality and intelligence even until they hit 50. Then to optimize, 
concentrate on just one or the other--for instance, if you have 2 stats at 
67, it's less useful than 77 and 57. Not a huge point, but in case you're 
picky.
--Rangers are actually last to improve since their progress is 1/4 what other 
spellcasters' is. Still with everyone else at 50 you can bring rangers along 
later as that is overall the most efficient thing place to spend money. But 
once they're at 50/50, forget it.
--If you are close to 250 in one attribute it's worth it to get there as you 
get an extra (final) bonus once attributes get there. But no use doing any 
more.

--Speed is actually the only attribute you can't pump up continually. Which 
is a shame, so try to balance out everything in the 50-range.

    2-5. EXPERIENCE

  What you need for the next level doubles until it cannot go over 1024000. 
Here's the starting experience for each character class:

Robbers 1000
Clerics, Knights 1500
Paladins, Rangers, Sorcerers, Archers 2000

  If you want to add a level, then, at the fountain where you can exchange 
gold for experience, you need to add 1024000 per, which equates to:
2048000 for 2 levels
3072000 for 3 levels
4096000 for 4 levels
5120000 for 5 levels

  However it really is easier just to go out in the world and find special 
items. Ancient Artifacts give an average of 233333 per item per person(500000 
for the "right" alignment, 100000 for the "wrong," right 1/3 of the time) and 
Orbs of Power give 1000000. Therefore if you get all the artifacts(37) and 
orbs(31) you have a pile of levels there for the whole party, almost 40 in 
fact. And the Maze from Hell nets you 23 levels if you clear it out.

  By the time you get to the upper levels of the arena, you get more 
experience for monsters than for (1000*the fight.) And since you can cast 
super-protective spells to get and stay there, you will be able to improve 
your characters until gold becomes a serious problem. That, I don't know how 
to remedy. Because there's only so much of it in the game. Bank interest 
can't keep up with it, and if you are going to cheat to build your gold up, 
why not do the same for your experience?

  Still experience is no substitute for attributes and it's in your interest 
to get as many stats at 50+ as you can. Spellcasting stats are critical. And 
sometimes you need certain battle-preparation spells to survive in certain 
areas anyway, so experience only gets you so far.

    2-6. ARMOR CLASS TABLE

01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
789
       |-3|-2|-1|+0| +1 | +2 |+3| +4 |+5|+6| +8|+ |+12|+14|+16|+20|
       |Wo|Br|Br|Gl|Iron|Silv|Am|Ebon|Qu|  |Pla|10|Eme|Sap|Dia|Obs|
       |od|as|on|as|Cora|Lapi|be|y  S|Ar|Go|Tin|Ru|ral|phi|mon|idi|
       |en|s |ze| s|Crys|Pear| r|teel|Tz|ld|Um |by|d  |re |d  |an |
-------+--+--+--+--+----+----+--+----+--+--+---+--+---+---+---+---+
Padded |-1| 0| 1| 2|   3|   4| 5|   6| 7| 8| 10|12| 14| 16| 18| 22|=helm
Leather| 0| 1| 2| 3|   4|   5| 6|   7| 8| 9| 10|12| 15| 17| 19| 23|
Scale  | 1| 2| 3| 4|   5|   6| 7|   8| 9|10| 10|12| 16| 18| 20| 24|
Ring   | 2| 3| 4| 5|   6|   7| 8|   9|10|11| 10|12| 17| 19| 21| 25|
Chain  | 3| 4| 5| 6|   7|   8| 9|  10|11|12| 10|12| 18| 20| 22| 26|
Splint | 4| 5| 6| 7|   8|   9|10|  11|12|13| 10|12| 19| 21| 23| 27|
Plate-M| 5| 6| 7| 8|   9|  10|11|  12|13|14| 10|12| 20| 22| 24| 28|
Plate-A| 7| 8| 9|10|  11|  12|13|  14|15|16| 18|20| 22| 24| 26| 30|
-------+--+--+--+--+----+----+--+----+--+--+---+--+---+---+---+---+
ToHit  |-3|+3|+2| 0|  +1|  +2|+3|  +4|     | +6|+6| +7| +8| +9|+15|
Dmg    |-3|-4|-2| 0|  +1|  +2|+3|  +4|     |+10|12|+15|+20|+30|+50
                    Ir=2|Si=4|  |St=6 Go=4h8d

  Note that as you get into the precious stuff(past Gold) there's relatively 
little difference between armors.

  You actually do lose AC for items such as rings that give no default AC 
improvement. You can have more than 1 ring but you can't have more than 1 of 
other types of items except medals. They are divided as follows:

Amulet/Necklace/pendant
Brooch/cameo/charm/Medal/scarab
Boots(+1)
Ring
Gauntlets(+1)
Belt
Crown/Tiara/Helm(+2)

If you get an obsidian (anything other than a weapon) it raises your armor 
class 20 points and you can even get an orb to hold in one hand for your 
sorcerer.

  As for weapons, Obsidian is so much more powerful than anything else that 
even an Obsidian Dagger beats out, say, a Diamond Flamberge(+50 vs +30.)

    2-7. ALL STAR SPELLS

Indispensible cleric spells:
Noncombat: LIGHT, FIRST AID, CURE WOUNDS, PROTECTION FROM ELEMENTS(fire 
especially,) POWER CURE, CURE POISON, CURE DISEASE, STONE TO FLESH, RAISE 
DEAD(which has no penalty as I can see)
Combat prep: HEROISM
Combat: CURE WOUNDS, PAIN, TURN UNDEAD, POWER CURE, COLD RAY, MOON RAY, HOLY 
WORD, MASS DISTORTION(for big HP monsters,) RESURRECTION(for emergencies,) 
SUN RAY(on a group)
Range, before combat: TURN UNDEAD, HOLY WORD(FIERY FLAIL is too weak vs. 
Sorcerer stuff for vs. 1 opponent)

Let's look at how the Clerical offensive spells fare. (name cost:damage)
Flying fist 2 : 6, ratio = 3 on 1
Fiery Flail 25 : 100, ratio = 4 on 1

Sparks 1/lev : 1/lev, ratio = 1 on 3
Pain 4 : 8, ratio = 2 on 3
Turn Undead is a special case which seems to be the best, but only against 
certain foes
Cold ray 2/lev : 2-4/lev, ratio = 1.5 on 3

Acid spray 9 : 15, ratio = 1.666 on 3+
Moon ray 60 : 30, ratio = .5 on 3+(advantage: HP back)
Mass Distortion: lose 1/2 spell points, better with bigger-HP monsters that 
aren't magic resistant
Holy Word: doesn't always kill undead monsters but can wound badly.
Sun ray 150 : 200, ratio = 1.333 on 3+

Indispensible druid spells:
Noncombat: NATURES CURE is a good heal, less efficient than first aid(4.17 
per SP vs 6) but it takes less. WALK ON WATER is absolutely necessary. 
NATURES GATE can help at times(where does it lead??)
Combat: DEADLY SWARM, PRISMATIC LIGHT(for desperate circumstances, but 
usually pretty good esp if no spell points for Elemental storm), ELEMENTAL 
STORM

Frost Bite 7 : 35, ratio = 5 on 1

Deadly swarm 12 : 40, ratio = 3.333 on 3

Acid spray 8 : 15, ratio = 1.875 on 3+
Elemental storm 100 : 150, ratio = 1.5 on 3+

The main weakness of druid spells is, not enough spells that do by-level 
damage. They mainly parrot the lesser of sorcerers' and clerics' spells. 
Swarm is good value but against biiiig monsters it's not too useful.


Indispensible sorcerer spells:
Noncombat: LIGHT, CREATE ROPE(no trips to the store,) JUMP, LEVITATE, (Wizard 
Eye is nice but there's automap and directional sense,) LLOYD'S 
BEACON(different locations for different casters,) TELEPORTAL, DUPLICATION(to 
crank up infinite gold, in a way--if you have Obsidian Plate Armor/Amulet or 
anything above Quartz, there is really no better item. Save to back the item 
up in case it's destroyed. You can get infinite gems in the Arachnoid cavern-
-and you should have the merchant-skill person sell,) ETHEREALIZE
Combat prep: POWER SHIELD
Combat: ENERGY BLAST(not as efficient as Implosion at higher levels but good 
early), TOXIC CLOUD(vs low HP monsters with special powers,) DRAGON 
BREATH(cold vs. fire creatures is great,) SUPER SHELTER(in a pinch,) 
IMPLOSION and pretty much any level-based attack. Let's compare them.

Incinerate 35 : 250, ratio = 7 1/7 on 1
Implosion 100 : 1000, ratio = 10 on 1

Toxic cloud 4 : 10, ratio = 2 1/2
Lightning bolt 2 : 2-6, ratio = 2 on 3
Fireball 2 : 3-7, ratio = 2 1/2 on 3
Fantastic Freeze 15 : 40, ratio =2 2/3 on 3
Mega Volts 40 : 150, ratio = 3 3/4 on 3
Inferno 75 : 250, ratio = 3 1/3 on 3
Dancing sword 3/level 6-14/level, ratio = 3 1/3 on 3

Dragon Breath 3/level : 5, ratio = 1 2/3 on 3+
Star Burst 200 : 500, ratio = 2 1/2 on 3+

  If you know your opponent's precise hit points then you can decide what to 
cast but otherwise the more expensive spells tend to be better. Of course 
more versatile ones such as Dragon Breath may be better if an enemy has a 
specific weakness i.e. acid as otherwise fireball or lightning bolt will work 
more efficiently.

  3. TIME, TIME, TIME

    3-1. METRICS

  One of the big problems I had when starting out was that I took a year to 
get even decent. I had some unpleasant experiences with letting time run up 
on me. So what takes up a lot of time and what doesn't?

--staying in an inn takes one day. So save outside.
--going to a temple takes a day. Getting blessed takes no time, but each 
uncurse or heal takes an extra day as well.
--browsing in a shop takes an hour, regardless of how many people look 
around.
--turning around doesn't take any time at all.
--each round of combat takes 1 minute in or out of doors.
--moving a square takes 1 minute indoors, 10 minutes outdoors.
--shooting arrows takes the same time as moving. Therefore, if time is of the 
essence you may wish to go directly into battle and forget shooting long-
range. Especially if you're blessed by the priests.
--casting a spell takes the same time as moving as well.
--training at a guild takes a day per character. If a character gains 
multiple levels, he still only takes a day to learn them. This leads to a 
good way to get strong quick in game-time.
--rotating takes no game-time.
--inventory and item trading don't, either
--1 day of food = 3 rest-ups.

--resting takes 8 hours. It removes all protective spells.
--the day turns light at 5 AM. Any protective spells you have at the moment 
are removed. So when you're using protective spells(including light) to go 
somewhere, remember to check the time to make sure they're not wasted. If 
it's night and you have time to kill, maybe you'll want to see the guild for 
any new spells. Take the magic mirror to other towns, even.
--dark comes at 9 PM, and it is the same all year. The year is decimal, with 
onesday through tensday and ten weeks in the year.
--most shops are open during all day hours. Taverns are open 6 PM-5 AM, banks 
9 AM-5 PM, and temples and inns are always open.

    3-2. TIME SAVERS

--casting teleport can save time by up to 89%. Jump, 50%. Teleport is 
actually more efficient than jump.
--Lloyd's Beacon is a huge time saver, and paired with Town Portal, you can 
bounce back and forth between towns/healing and a tough dungeon.
--when stranded at night, visit a temple.
--the big one: multiple levels for a party member at once.

  4. STARTING OFF IN THE TOWNS

  When starting off, the worst ways to lose game-time are getting poisoned or 
diseased, using the inn to save games, and getting stuck at the wrong times 
or even resting in the wrong areas. There are also a few things you need to 
use as resources. You need to know where certain fountains are that help you 
improve quickly and temporarily. Often you'll need to use them and head to 
certain places, such as a locked box your character isn't good enough to open 
normally. My keys are:

--temples, where you get blessed. Having to pay more per character is better. 
Because if you pay 7 times, you get +7 of holy bonus, blessed, heroism and 
power shield. And you waste the same amount of time.
--later, a pool in B1 where everyone gets +20 levels for the rest of the day

    4-1. GETTING PLAYERS AND EQUIPMENT

  I generally trade in the Barbarian for a Ranger(human, female, neutral to 
balance alignments.) Early on it's best to have as many healing spells as 
possible, and although an Archer would be optimal, there is one in Fountain 
Head along with a Druid. I also like having Walk on Water relatively soon. 
The one disadvantage is that your archer could, later, cast Implosion and 
save your sorcerer the hit points.

  There's also a risky gambit of dropping a knight and barbarian for an 
archer and a ranger/druid. If you can improve quickly and are willing to hit 
the fountains, this is an intriguing idea. You don't lose that much in terms 
of firepower, and although you do get nicked long-term for a few hit points, 
it's nice to have another someone casting spells. I don't recommend it for 
people who've never tried Might and Magic style games, though.

  The first thing to do, even before dropping the Barbarian, is to get rid of 
his items and trade them to your Knight. You can then go to the shop, which 
is straight forward after you leave, and buy a short bow, two cutlasses, two 
scale armor, and cloak and gauntlets. Everyone should have leather boots, so 
don't worry about those. Remove the barbarian, pick up the archer or ranger 
and give her the equipment that's loose. You'll also want your four 
spellcasters to have access to the guild.

  Here I like to create a small chart of who has what sort of items. Also 
note the party order. It's not critical, but you want your strongest up front 
to bash down doors. Also you'll want to note the order everyone goes in, in 
combat. It should be like that for the rest of the game, or until someone 
gains speed. The first eight, you can buy anywhere. The next few get found 
along the way. It's worth noting that gloves, cloak, boots, and helms can be 
used by all party members. Whenever you get a new or better item there may be 
a lot of swapping to do, and this follows particularly after visiting a store 
in a new town. Trickle down effects work nicely here.

        |Armor |Weapon|Helm|Shield|Bow |Gloves|Cloak |Boots |Ring|Belt|Other
--------+------+------+----+------+----+------+------+------+----+----+-----
Paladin |      |      |    |      |    |      |      |      |    |    |
Archer  |      |      |    | XXXX |    |      |      |      |    |    |
Ranger  |      |      |    |      |    |      |      |      |    |    |
Robber  |      |      |    |      |    |      |      |      |    |    |
Cleric  |      |      |    |      |XXXX|      |      |      |    |    |
Sorcerer|      |      |    | XXXX |XXXX|      |      |      |    |    |
Or, if you must,
Knight  |      |      |    |      |    |      |      |      |    |    |
Brbarian|      |      |    |      |    |      |      |      |    |    |
Ninja   |      |      |    |      |????|      |      |      |    |    |
Druid   |      |      |    | ???? |????|      |      |      |    |    |

  One very nice thing about MM3 is that any character can use any item--
except for bows, armor, and weapons. Paladins/Knights can use plate armor, 
Ranger/Cleric can use splint, Archer/Robber can use chain, and Sorcerers can 
use padded. But the big bonuses average out and if you give your Sorcerer an 
obsidian item or two he may be as well protected as the other guys. By the 
end of the game everyone had 110+ armor classes.

    4-2. PICKING YOUR FIGHTS: MY PREFERRED ORDER

  Now that you're equipped you're ready to go outside. Yes, already. One 
thing you can do before you go outside is to get everyone blessed. This 
pretty much means that the enemies in A1 won't be able to damage you, and 
it's cheap. If you are able to attack that many more enemies, then you can 
get to the training grounds with several more levels at once, and the day you 
spend getting blessed can be wiped out by the days you save training for 
multiple levels. And you can just continually visit the fountain of +20 armor 
class to waste only a few game-hours--if you're really obsessed with timing 
and a quick jump in the game's internal sense. Eventually I maddened myself 
with this perfection but you may feel differently.

  The big push early will be to take out enemy outposts. This gets you 
experience and items. They don't start out being very good, but once you get 
mountaineering and pathfinding, you can find cool items all over. And of 
course you don't have to do everything in this order. But I did.

  After creating your party and before serious exploration you may want to 
enroll the two hirelings in your party, step out, and have them trade 
everything they have to your regular players. This allows for one more 
missile weapon and a pile of nice armor. Your first goal will be to get 
access to the Wildabar guild, which will give you all the healing spells you 
need to avoid the temples--except for death, which is very avoidable. You're 
just worried about healing accidents at the moment.

      4-2-1. CLEARING A1 + FOUNTAIN HEAD

  If you don't get blessed you can still take out the Goblin Warriors. Just 
look south and east and shoot down whoever's in the picture. You shouldn't 
need to attack anyone directly yet or use spells. Eventually you'll want to 
go south. When the grass is on the left, face that way and fire off a few 
more arrows. A few waves of goblins will come at you, but you should be able 
to deal. At the caravan, destroy everything and you'll get 2500 experience 
along with some items that are probably worthless although they have cool 
names(wooden flamberge, etc.) Now I wound up with 3524 experience total here. 
That is enough for 2 levels for your robber, cleric and sorcerer. You can 
certainly go back right now.

  But I found I liked to loop back left and up. Instead of going into town 
you can go east two and north. Then circle around the top shoreline to the 
west. When you see trees, go into them and reach the well. If you get that, 
you will be unhittable to the orcs. You may want to save after each won 
fight. But once you have you can just move in close and cream the orcs. The 
orc caravan is on the other side of the mountain, and if you destroy it, you 
get 5000 experience. On top of the experience for the orcs you should have 
enough to advance handily. I found I had 11000-12000 experience here, but I 
pushed it a bit. I had enough time and cash to get to the guild and learn 
first aid and light, which are nuisances not to have, for my paladin and 
ranger. Then I healed up and went two spaces south of where I started the 
game. Secret door to the west, bash it in, win the fight, get gold and an 
item.

  The last bit is back east and north four squares. Then tend east, break 
down the door, and gun down all the monsters there. High armor class should 
mean it's all no problem. If you don't finish all this before the next day 
starts, no problem. You've still got a great jump. Just go train before the 
next day starts and get ready for your next task. Note training is free 
healing too, for hit points anyway.

      4-2-2. CLEARING A2

  A2 is similar to A1 except that it's got a few more enemies in a wider-open 
space. There are two ways to approach it. You should be blessed before 
entering the area or, if you like to save game-time, you can get temporary 
+20 armor class at that well in A1. You may want to use the portal to say 
SEADOG and go to Baywatch, although you can also walk to A2.

  If you approach from A1, go south until you see a building to the right. 
Enter it and destroy it. Then go west and when you see a shrine south, enter 
and destroy it. Turn back north and go forward until you take out that 
square. It may be tough to keep track of directions but if you have the sound 
on you can hear how many moves you made. The total experience here is double 
what it was before. 

  If you exit from Baywatch, the skeletons inside shouldn't do too much 
damage. You can pick up 300 luck(getting you to Ultimate) at the fountain 
just north of where the mirror drops you off, which seems to help a lot. Just 
keep pitching a coin 'til it happens once and then do it again. Before 
exiting to the west I might advise a detour to the shop(east of the inn) to 
get a crossbow and some nice armor, then go east, south and east to pick off 
the zombies guarding the guild while you are still "upped." Save before 
fighting--they cause disease, which is annoying to get rid off. I've managed 
to stretch things out by going north to the Magic Mirror area to get rid of 
skeletons who might bother you later, then back south and east to clear out 
more skeletons. To really get ahead you can gain access to the guild, see 
brother Alpha, and get Pathfinder(get this first, before Mountaineer, because 
you only need 1 person to get it if you've got a Ranger in your party. And 
it's half as expensive. But if you can afford that too, great.)

  You didn't outright need those detours above but they'll help you out 
later. Go outside and west until you are past something on your right. Turn 
right and go north into the first hut and see the paragraph above.

  Now you have the option of porting back to Fountain Head. I advise this, 
because you'll have some cash from A2 now and will want to be sure you have 
Mountaineering. Plus you'll want one night in Baywatch to buy spells such as 
Jump, which can save a bit of time and annoyance. Create Rope is also 
important for Sorcerers and Archers, as is Toxic Cloud. Clerics will of 
course want the healing spells such as Cure Wounds and First Aid, and if you 
are playing with a ranger, get him whatever he needs. Your Cleric will want 
protection from elements and, if you were able to push to level 5 after A1, 
Turn Undead will shortly be extremely handy.

  A side point here--there are some zombies guarding the doors. Boost your 
luck to 300 and hit them with whatever spells you can before they approach. 
And Energy Blast them when they're near. They can disease you, which is 
annoying to get rid of.

  Before moving to A3, you may also first want to take a day to explore the 
mountains in A1, which hold 10000+ treasure and thus recoup your investment 
pretty quickly. A3 is a bit tougher. You don't need to gain levels yet and, 
being a time-miser, I didn't. But you do need pathfinder(Baywatch) and the 
spell Toxic Cloud(any guild) to deal with A3's screamers at your current 
level range.

      4-2-3. CLEARING A3

  Check the shop to see if there's a new short bow. Screamers can go down to 
missile attacks as they have few hit points, but I've found Toxic Cloud works 
even better, so wait at night to pick up the spell for Sorcerer and Archer. 
The key things to locate in A3 are the screamer breeding grounds and the 
wagon that cures insanity--otherwise the temples have a monopoly on all that. 
The wagons are cheaper too. What I do is to follow the road from Baywatch and 
then go along the mountain range tending west. Remember that you can see when 
it ends in one direction because the mountain in front of you will get a bit 
smaller. Follow it all the way to the west edge. Then turn south. Use spells 
whenever you can, or whenever necessary. There will be a wall of three 
screamers and here's where you may need to fire off two spells quickly. Once 
that's done you can destroy the breeding grounds in the wagon and continue 
going south. Follow the coastline south and you may need to go east once. 
South a bit more and there'll be another wagon to the east at y=1. Enter it 
and pay 10 gems. Later on if you have Lloyd's Beacon you may want to earmark 
this spot. Because there's no real cure for insanity. Later you won't need 
one, because stronger enemies don't do that to you.

  The next part of this area, getting to the vampire bats' den, is not too 
bad, but if you meet screamers you may have to heal up again. You may want to 
backtrack to heal up along the way but it's quicker to plow through and have 
done with it. Of course you can save before each fight so no-one gets 
damaged, but that is not real-world practical. Go east all the way, north 
two, east and north. Destroy. Then go west and turn north when you see a 
wagon. That's where you cure poison.

  Now the top wagon offers +10 might and endurance to your knight for 10000 
gold, which you might as well get if you have the money(and a knight,) but 
strangely it doesn't matter much later. If you are playing with default 
characters your might and endurance will go over 25, and thus when you go to 
the caverns below Swamp Town you will only get one improvement to your 
endurance instead of two. There's some treasure in this area totalling 9500 
gold that should help you afford this, but actually if you go in for the 2 
million cheat you may just want to pump everyone's accuracy up to 25 in the 
DR wagon. It's a limited time offer, and later on in the game there are 
improvements you can pay for with gems, but they're a bit trickier.

  With all this you should have a few levels now. You could try your luck in 
B1, or you might want to look into the dungeon downstairs to try to clear out 
other areas. You're going to be restricted by water pretty soon, so I'll look 
into the Fountain Head dungeon. It has some nice attribute raisers, and you 
have a chance for some cheap experience. You'll also get to learn some basics 
of dungeon traveling that will stay with you. Before going in I recommend you 
have Jump and that you also have Lloyd's Beacon and have it cast for the A3 
area by the poison cure. That lessens the risk of being poisoned and losing 
attributes before you get to safety.

      4-2-4. FOUNTAIN HEAD DUNGEON

X.X.XXXXXXX...XX
.....XXXXX.....X
X^..XX.XX.....XX
XXX............X
XXX.XXXXXXX.X...
X...X.X.X.XXXX.X
X.X..........XXX
X.XXX.....XX.XX.
...XXX...XX.....
...XXXX.XXXX.XXX
...XX.XXX......X
X.XXX.....XX.X.X
X.XXXX..X..X.X..
X.XX.XXXXX.X.XXX
X.X...XXXX.X...X
X....XXX^..XXXXX

  The Fountain Head dungeon isn't too bad, but you may want to make several 
passes through it nonetheless. You will likely need the "jump" spell, or you 
will need to rest a ton. By now you should have four people with missile 
weapons and two players of reasonable strength. Clearing it out should not be 
too bad. First you have vampire bats, so stay back and shoot them all down. 
There's one poisoned vat in the first room, the northeast corner--save before 
getting it. In general you can cheat up like this before drinking poison. If 
you drink poison, you need to watch your stats, but by the time you go in you 
should have Lloyd's Beacon set to A3.

  The main objectives here are to kill the Rat Overlord and find the altar to 
boost everyone's swimming. You might as well be blessed for the Rat Overlord, 
and you'll actually want to do that first, because it's the only one of any 
of the monsters that has a chance against you.

  Go south from the first room, jump over the pendulum, south and east. There 
are some barrels of treasure to the south, and you will need to heal up to 
pass through the next pendulums. Here you can save a chunk of damage if you 
use the mouse and click the right arrow a few times. When you reach the head, 
type RATS(we're cheating up here a bit. If you look into other parts of the 
dungeon and collect 5 skulls and go back up, east and south, you get this 
message.) The exit back up is to the west, and you go south at the next fork. 
The rat overlord shouldn't be too tough. Keep your distance and fire energy 
blasts at it with your sorcerer, and heal whomever you need to. Then retrace 
your path back, checking all the side forks and resting whenever you need to 
heal.

  On the way back you should have the money to pay for all nonhumans getting 
the swimming skill. You may also wish to explore the cavern to the west at 
the first fork, as well as the cavern to the west of the pendulum. There you 
can get two skills you don't really need, but it's fun.

  The good and bad chests are labeled in the map above.

  You can proceed to the arena after this or you can also go scope out 
Wildabar.

      4-2-5. BAYWATCH AND DUNGEON AND A4

  I'm assuming that you have cleared out most of Baywatch, except for two 
particularly virulent batches behind doors. First, at the top near the 
dungeon, there's a door south. You can bust it south and start casting "turn 
undead" a bunch. It's a ranged spell, so you should zap the monsters before 
they get there. Before the following fights, visit the fountain in the town 
square for some serious gold. The weapons shop may be recharged by now, too.

  On the east wall, to the south, is a bigger group of undeads. You may need 
to rest up before taking them on. The ghoul is the big enemy there and it may 
help if a pellcaster has lightning bold or fireball. Save your paladin's Turn 
Undead for the ghoul. He probably doesn't have too many spell points, yet.

  Stay out of the pits until you've learned Cure Disease and Cure Poison. 
Don't bust down the gate you can see through, either. Rather, just head to 
the dungeon, which has some nice experience and attribute improvement for 
you. Also, wait for nightfall to learn Levitate if you haven't. Protection 
from Elements(Acid flavor) also helps in the cavern when you want to knock 
down some walls behind an acid pit.

  Again, Lloyd's Beacon to A3 is very helpful here. Your players may go 
insane without a lot of chance to heal them, and it may be nearly too late to 
heal them if you go by foot. You may need to reconnoiter once, even if it is 
after you've clubbed everything else.

======== A4 DETOUR ========

  Once you get to A3 to cure insanity, you may want to detour to take out the 
giant spiders to the south before coming back. Even if you get poisoned along 
the way, remember you can heal that in A3 as well. The giant spiders' layer 
is directly south of the wagon where you cure insanity, and in fact if you 
are crafty you can get to the mantises' lair without doing much. The trick is 
to walk clockwise along the shoreline until you reach a mountain. Then go two 
squares north in the mountain and destroy the mantises' lair. This may 
require some fighting but if you're blessed it shouldn't be too bad. Cast 
Lloyd's Beacon to return, or have the spell points saved, and then regain 
your sanity and flush out the poison if need be.

  This detour may be a bit ambitious but it's possible to rake off a good 
chunk of experience pretty quickly.

======== END DETOUR ========

  Back in the dungeon, there are a lot of secret cells here where you have 
through walls. You also may find Sacred Silver Skulls, which are good for 
experience and a bit of gold when you go back to Fountain Head. Brother Beta 
is also in there, south from the northeast corner. You can always walk 
anywhere without touching acid except where there is a secret door.

  A phantom is trapped behind various doors at the top. Save beforehand, have 
a thief unlock the door in the north center, and cast Turn Undead as quickly 
as possible.

      4-2-6. B1 area

  Here's where you sort of turn the corner. B2 is probably a bit easier. But 
B1 has some nasty monsters indeed. Rest up(leveling up is optional) and 
donate at the Baywatch temple. It costs a bit more but it's worth it, because 
it will help you solve a later quest of donating at all temples. If you don't 
need to now, earmark Baywatch for later.

  You'll want to come in with spells flashing and do what you can to break 
through the Wild Fungi to the east. You'll need to enter at the right 
point(Y=2, from A1) and then, once you passed by a giant head, go one square 
north to continue in the forest. Then turn east. The fountain to destroy is 
one square away, but there are a lot of enemies to zap. Hit them with 
lightning bolts and such. The wild fungi will always hit you, so there's no 
sense trying to build up your armor class. Just push forward and, once you 
destroy the fountain, push into the mountain.

  Now you may note that there is an island 2 north and 2 east where you can 
drink from a very nice fountain. Do so. You may also wish to set Lloyd's 
Beacon here. This will be your new stopping point after being blessed at a 
temple. It will take some time to get back to Fountain Head and use the magic 
mirror to get to another one, or even to use the finesse of using the mirror 
to Baywatch for the +300 luck and continuing on, but it's a maneuver you will 
want to get used to in order to improve quickly.

  From here, go east 'til you hit a mountain and then north. The Oh No bugs 
shouldn't be difficult with your attacks doubled and the temple's effects 
still going on. You shouldn't need spells. They're easier than the Wild Fungi 
in my opinion.

  From here you can just walk along the mountains to take care of business 
and look for treasure, with the Oh No Bugs lair at (12,8,) or maybe you can 
stretch out to B2. You'll want to come back here to hoard treasure, but for 
right now the fungi give serious shocks and there's no way to avoid being 
hit. So avoid them or come prepared with several Toxic Clouds and lots of 
heal spells.

      4-2-7. B2 area

  The area in B2 is similar to B1--the easier enemies give more experience 
for destroying their lair. You might want to go along the shoreline to knock 
out the ogres, or if you're feeling really brave, you can try to shoot all 
opposing sprites down from a distance. They curse you, though, so beware. One 
good solution I've found is to shoot at them from across the river, or walk 
across the river, retreat, and fire. This can take extra time, but it can be 
surer.

      4-2-8. WILDABAR AND ITS DUNGEON

  On entering Wildabar you'll find a lot of melee opponents. You can get to 
Wildabar by typing FREEMAN in the magic mirror, and you may want to visit the 
fountain of +20 levels in the morning before so doing. You should be able to 
deal with the ninjas, especially if you're blessed, but if not, a wave or two 
won't hurt. Try to train up and maybe you might want to take a few trips to 
the Arena. Of course there are new weapons here too, so keep track of that.

  Once it's all cleared up you want to go into the southern area. Here you 
have some useful skills: Arms Master, for everybody, as well as Body Builder, 
which adds a few hit points all around.

  After that you should be able to rest, to see your new maximums, and get 
blessed at the Wildabar temple(3 of 5 now) and take out the rest of Wildabar. 
Because the enemies don't give spell damage, you shouldn't have much trouble 
running through them. Visit Brother Gamma outside the Sonic Ninja quasi-boss. 
Brother Delta is way at the end. Ogres again shouldn't do much damage, 
because you have the bonus to hit and to protect. You will want to save 
before taking out the Wicked Witch in the west center, but other than that 
it's pretty straightforward. Just pull the levers. There are also several 
places where you can raise attributes.

      4-2-9. ANCIENT TEMPLE OF MOO

  If you have Levitate, this is a pretty straightforward smash-and-grab 
affair. The main purpose, aside from a ton of money, is to get the Crusader 
skill that allows you into castles. There's also a boss fight and some 
wickedly awesome treasure. But you should be able to run through this pretty 
easily.

      4-2-10. B3 and B4

  Area B3 is tougher than it looks. From Wildabar, blessed, you'll want to 
walk in the water along the shoreline up from B4. Then when mountains appear, 
head over them to the west. Be sure to have a lot of Turn Undead ready to go.

  You'll want to linger around in the mountains to get an Etherealize and 
Teleport early on, and then you may want to rest up before attacking the 
Bugaboos. Here because there's no magic that's really effective, you can just 
slap Power Shield on your front fighters and Heroism and maybe Blessed on the 
others if you don't want to retrace your steps. By now your power shield, 
etc. should be stronger than anything the temples can give. The drawback is 
that you're out of spell points once you cast the spells.

  As in B2 and B1, the most lucrative hideout to destroy features the easier 
monsters.

  If you'd like you can also tool around B4 for a while to pick up experience 
and look in the mountains for goodies. Castle Bloodreign isn't too useful 
yet, though.

      4-2-11. SWAMP TOWN

  From Wildabar you can find a boat in B4 that takes you to Swamp Town for 
2000 gold or, better yet, you can type DOOMED at a magic mirror. Swamp Town 
is a mess of secret doors and ghouls/ninjas hiding behind them. Again, having 
an increased level will help in all this especially since Turn Undead depends 
on the caster's level. First though you'll want to bust open the west wing's 
shops. The weapons store here is even nicer. Even if it will eventually get 
replaced, remember the trickle down effect of armor: if your knight gets 
Silver items, he can trade the Iron stuff to the Paladin, who drops the 
regular stuff off to someone who didn't have any. Then, in Burning Heights, 
the knight gets the Steel stuff and everything repeats.

  But for Swamp Town the current objective should be to clear out the boss 
fights, sign up for the guild, and get out. From the original area you smash 
a door east and go north. Then cast Turn Undead for all you're worth. Clear 
out the treasure and go back south--bash to the right. Now there are a lot of 
tombs here along the north side that are cursed, but if you dig the right 
ones you get a nice treat.

(15, 15) holy bonus
(13, 15) 200 gems
(9, 15) 5000 gold

  If you still have energy(and if you're blessed, do heal up who you can) you 
may want to go back south, break open a door and take out the ninjas around 
there. There's another door to break down and then you'll find many treasures 
lying around.

(9, 2) cure paralysis scroll
(9, 1) (14, 1) artifact of evil
(11, 1) (12, 1) (14, 4) ancient jewelry
(12, 5) heroism scroll
(11, 3) ghost and treasure
(14, 5) ghost

  Of these the ancient jewelry is saleable, and the artifacts of evil become 
very important later on. In fact you can possibly roll the dice and use them 
sooner rather than later, but for now just keep them in the inventory.

  You can go down the stairs now and open up whatever coffins you see. Don't 
allow yourself to jump through the lightning, but go back east and gain 
access to the spell guild. The rest of the dungeon is too treacherous for 
now. Go back up, rest, use the temple for donations and then take the magic 
mirror to Blistering Heights(REDHOT.) You really might want to train, or at 
least drink from the +20 level fountain, before going there. And if you 
haven't gotten blessed at the Swamp Town temple yet, do so. The first few 
fights are doozies.

      4-2-12. BLISTERING HEIGHTS, PART 1

  You have a bit of a tricky row to hoe here. You can't get through 
Blistering Heights all at once, but you really do need to cast protection 
from elements before mixing it up. There's a statue several squares away, and 
you'll suffer some damage getting to it. But once you're there, BAM. You can 
take out any opponents. You'll want to go to the south where you can take on 
various fire lizards and dragons. If your priest has cold ray, it's a big 
help, and if your sorcerer has dragon breath(use cold,) that's good, too. 
Just throw everything you have and open the chest that's not in a niche 
first. Save before opening the other, which contains an obscene amount of 
treasure.

  Now go west and defeat the mini-dragon and try to pick up the chests with a 
shard each of Neutrality, Evil and Good. Your robber is getting ~30000 
experience for opening each of these chests, and he couldn't do it without 
the 20+ level boost.

  You can then save and go into the kennel and see how many bad guys you can 
fight. I couldn't make it through on the first try, so I just waited 'til 
nightfall, bought some food, went to the guild, learned some spells, and 
recharged to level 20 and built up resistance before returning. Then I opened 
up the chests, and I had more than enough loot for a while.

  The next step is, a bit surprisingly, the Blistering Heights cavern. You 
can't quite win it, but you can get the important statistical boosts.

      4-2-13. BLISTERING HEIGHTS CAVERN

  You'll have to leave the Major Devil until last. There's nothing saying you 
can't take everything else here out, though, and there are certain ways to 
make this ordeal much easier. The object here is to touch six altars that 
give you more resistance to fire, electricity, energy, poison, cold and acid. 
These, combined with a level-boost, resistance to elements, and touching the 
statues in Blistering Heights, will kick off your foray into the Swamp Town 
dungeon quite nicely.

  The basic plan is to find one altar, rest, recharge, and use etherealize, 
side-walking, clerical cold spells, and other offense to get to the next 
area. Near the end you can even take a bit of damage.

  And near the very end you can go to the top center where you can sucker 
some enemies to come at you all at once, pull back, and fire a few more cold 
rays. You don't want to go too far in as that would attract a Major Demon, 
which you can't handle yet. But if you take care of these bad guys now, it'll 
be easier to take care of the demon later.

  But what about the passages? For each one there is a fire spirit around 
where a block of fire stands in your way. You won't need to etherealize and 
sidestep to get out of the way at first, since the fire hardly does any 
damage, but as you move along you'll run out of magic. Then you'll have to 
rest and cast the spell on your own. And since monsters are pretty much fixed 
here, it's no shame to step across the fire on your way back and forth. Just 
be sure to rest afterwards. The fire nearest where you entered can always be 
jumped over. You can go to the east side and pick up more invincibility, 
fight in the front of the top room, and then get out.

      4-2-14. SWAMP TOWN CAVERN

  There are several ways to get the whopping might you need to get through 
this. But first you need to have the appropriate protection: after finding 
the level-pool in B1, you will need to cast Etherealize and have the standard 
blessing wherever you haven't done so yet. By now you should have been 
blessed in all five temples, giving you the accomplishment of "blessed bythe 
forces." If not, reassess whee you've been and try going on a donation spree. 
You should have the money to try.

  After jumping through the first of the electric fields, cast protection 
from the elements and save. Then etherealize south through the gate. Have 
your paladin and cleric cast Turn Undead. Try not to have the sorcerer cast 
spells until you're fighting multiple phantoms. Remember you have to save for 
later fights. You may want to check after every fight here to see if any 
player's age went up. If so, restore and try again. It's actually not so bad 
especially if you have a good shield or hit bonus. Having over twice the 
levels means over twice the attacks, too. Phantoms actually don't do much hit 
point damage, but if they touch you the wrong way, there's some nasty aging.

  Phantoms come in waves of 1, 1, 2 and 3. Try to hold off on spells 'til the 
last one, when there's a reaper coming at you as well. And try to leave some 
spells, in the first loop, for the final battle with 3 phantoms in the second 
loop.

  Your first fork to take will be the right(west.) There's a huge might bonus 
there--+20 as long as your might is below 50, and what's best is that you can 
take it twice by hitting the space bar. Do so.

  Now with your might you can just loop around and bash through the walls you 
had to etherealize through before. This leads to an area where you can get 
+25 endurance for anyone under 50.

  But don't rest yet--tackle the north part while your party's still charged. 
There are two coffins containing Ancient Artifacts of Evil behind secret 
doors. Now that you've gotten the might bonus, it shouldn't be a problem to 
go back and get things. You can probably just walk through the electricity 
fields and unlock the doors as well without any damage, assuming you have the 
bonus from Blistering Heights(west dragon,) along with the protection from 
elements with advanced level and the permanent protection from the Blistering 
Heights cavern.

  Once you're done with this, there are two Ancient Artifacts of Evil in the 
north area. You can just unlock doors and bash walls easily to get to them--
the artifacts are behind a secret door. This should edge your total up to 
five.

  Now it's time to visit Castle Dragontooth and cash out.

      4-2-15. CLEARING E2

  Now things should be easy. You've got more might and endurance, and you may 
not even need to bless yourself or add 20 levels, but quite frankly with the 
upcoming payoff ahead you'd be a fool not to(it's more important than even 
training,) and you can still add an extra 30 to your party's current 
collective might. Face north, go up one, and teleport nine squares. Win all 
the fights. You can now destroy one lair. Then go west. You can teleport 
again if you'd like. Your improved might should squash the enemy.

  From here you can just cast walkwater into E1. Follow the coastline east 
and at X=10 you can go north. There may be some evil archers, but you've got 
too much firepower now. Enter the castle and give away the Artifacts of Evil 
that you have for 2500000 experience for evils(knight and robber, for here.)

  In fact, you might even be able to pick up a few extra souvenirs of your 
visit. There are ancient artifacts of Neutrality in the pits at (15, 15) and 
(12, 12). Players with <250 hit points would not be able to survive these 
unless they've been given a level boost--which automatically adjusts hit 
points. My strategy here is, once the castle is clear, to create ropes for 
everyone and let everyone except the sorcerer climb down. Then I exit the 
castle, cast Lloyd's Beacon to a safe spot, and rest.

  You can get a few quatloo coins at (9, 14)-5, (13, 14)-4 and (7, 15)-3. 
These will come in handy for the Slitherin Caves. There are some very, very 
powerful random items at (12, 15)--appear to be Obsidian--but if your 
backpacks are near to full, these are the ones you'll want to wait on.

      4-2-16. ARACHNID CAVES

  And yet I'm still not advocating training the characters who got that big 
boost. Again, do the whole train-a-lot deal. You may not need blessing but it 
doesn't hurt. Before stopping in the caves you may want to drop off your 
Artifacts of Neurtaility at Bloodreign, if you got them from Dragontooth. 
Your inventory may be getting a bit full, too.

  The arachnid caves, which are a long teleport west from Wildabar, don't 
have many tough monsters except for when you break into a secret room. You 
can generally tell secret rooms by incisions in the blobby structure in the 
center. There's a room straight ahead as you enter and it houses a Toxic 
Worm. With extra attacks it is much less of a problem, and once it's 
dispatched you often have crystals you can touch that improve personality or 
intelligence.

  In fact the outer part of the maze is easily disposed of via 

  There's also an inner room that allows +10 accuracy and luck...and the 
ability to recharge every set of crystals in the dungeon.

  Below is a rough conceptual map of where the bonuses are. Brother Zeta is 
by the first set of crystals clockwise from the start, and the Blue Unholy 
Key is by the second set.

  As for the puzzles? Don't bother. Yeegh.

          I
     P          P
I                   I/linguist
          AL
         P  L   prayer master/  [paladin/cleric/druid
         I      prestidigitator [sorcerer/archer/druid
          A

         P
            I

  By this time I found I had well over 5000 gems, so I had no problem 
hoarding everything and retracing my steps. For accuracy, I don't recommend 
balancing things out. Give it to one person. Because there is that square in 
A3 where you can drop accuracy on your also-rans, and you have more than 
enough money to do all this now. You may want to stop off there before 
continuing on.

      4-2-17. SLITHERCULT CAVES

  Before starting you may want to stop off at A3 and improve everyone's 
accuracy to 25 if it isn't there already. Again this is another area you 
don't have to go through, especially if you've save state hacked your files, 
but it's straightforward enough. Since it's very close to the super-might and 
+20 level fountains, it's a great idea to start out with all that. Just have 
a cleric cast protection from fire and then take the west passage at the 
first four-way intersection. You can have anyone drink from the pool at the 
spiral's end, but it might be best to get your sorcerer to. Then you can go 
back east and clear out everything there. After going north down a long 
hallway, go east and clean up, then west and clean up.

  To the north there's a head that wants you to respond EPSILON. That lets 
you by into the main treasure area. Go west and root out treasure, then go 
east and take a passage south. There are quatloo receptors here and they can 
crank your might, endurance and accuracy up. You should have several quatloos 
now and I prefer endurance for the most part. No one should be under 50 but 
if anyone is close to 75, give it to them and you'll get a nice HP bonus. 
Same with might near 75. Accuracy for folks with low scores there would be 
nice too.

  There's a small maze near the end. Jump east, north, west, 2 north, east, 
jump east twice, south, jump east. That leads to the final, and easy, boss 
fight.

  After finishing the Slithercult caves, go to E2 (8,8) with the Fizbin and 
have several slots open to get some Obsidian items. It's worth it. Make sure 
you have slots open of course--it's worth it to ditch some pretty good junk 
for Obsidian stuff(+30 AC bonus, etc.)

      4-2-18. LOOTING THE CASTLES

  You'll want to make a lot of gold wherever you can, then deposit whenever 
you can, and here's why. Near the end of the game you'll run out of gold to 
pay for level advancement. You may still be itching to get to level 17 so you 
can cast Implosion, but you do want to make sure you save money for other 
things. So you may want to poke into the first of the dungeons and improve 
your sorcerer if he's not to level 17. You should be putting excess money 
away right now to build interest in the bank, and if you want to find a bit 
right now, go back to the Blistering Heights dungeon, get your party +20 
levels and the works in B1, and fight the major devil. There's 1000000 gold 
behind him and secret doors to each side.

  I don't want to touch Castle Dragontooth at first, because you really need 
the "implode" spell to get things working there, and you may have to teleport 
directly on it(evil rangers and archers make for a tough fight just to enter 
it.) But I think that Bloodreign is a good place to start. You'll need to 
level up before going to any castle so that your characters are skillfull 
enough to open locks. Then have your cleric cast protection from cold. That's 
what sorcerers will cast once you've opened the chests. The answer to open 
the chests is "NORTIC." I found the sorcerers went down surprisingly quickly.

  After this you can go to the south part, bash doors open, defeat the trolls 
easily and get two of each kind of artifact not in this castle(good/evil.) 
Your characters are probably too good for this intermediate bit before you 
leave, but you can unlock the doors on the west and the east for minor 
experience and decent items.

  With those two artifacts it's a good idea to get to Whiteshield. The walk 
there isn't too tedious but several teleport spells in a row do the trick as 
well. You can almost get to Whiteshield in the same day if you've got a lot 
of spell power. Save outside Baywatch just in case it doesn't work out and 
you're too lazy to go back.

  With implosion, the dark knights that chase you once you answer the 
riddle("Smello") and get the chest's treasure are not so tough. You might be 
able to handle one with conventional magic, but two, probably not.

  Dragontooth might be a tempting but bad place to go. Of course you probably 
have a ton of gems, and you could go back to the Slithercult cavern to 
improve your stats. You could even teleport to (0,8) in Whiteshield and 
defeat a Black Knight with implosion for another artifact. But eventually, 
you'll duel with Wizards that attack you as you escape. You'll want to save 
nearly every step of the way and back up your save file too just in case. If 
you run at a wizard and he blasts you, run sideways towards him and turn the 
next time. The margin of error is thin here, but if you deal with wizards one 
at a time you have a real chance to escape a winner.

  And then, if you haven't taken care of the pits yet, do so. The pits in 
Dragontooth are great and all you really need to do is heal up someone who's 
stepped in there. Make sure that this person's current hit points + total hit 
points > 500 for the pits in Dragontooth and you will find a ton of stuff.

(7, 15) Quatloos
(9, 14) Quatloos
(12, 15) Obsidian items--save and reload to get the very best if you want
(12, 12) (15, 15) Ancient artifact of Neutrality
(13, 14) Quatloos
(8, 13) (11, 14) rinky dink experience. Don't bother.

  Now about those wizards--face perpendicular to them and sneak sideways.

      4-2-19. ABANDON ALL CAUTION ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE

      4-2-20. C2/C3/D2/D3

  There's a lot of slow going here as fire will always damage you, unless you 
have Protection from Elements, and the fire dragon statue in Blistering 
Heights won't hurt either. Many monsters here are resistant to all but magic 
and you need to be pumped to drill through.

  Of these areas D2 is the most annoying if you're out of magic(fire stalkers 
near untouchable even with Heroism) and C3 is the most daunting but holds the 
most experience. Don't bother with teleporting or etherealizing. Neither 
works.

  Here is the summary for the ground parts of these areas:

D2 (10, 1) fire lizard hut, destroy for 100k
C2 (11, 2) major devil hut, destroy for 500k
C2 (15, 0) Pyramid--central command. You need to get here by way of C3, D3 
and D2 from Blistering Heights for the shortest route: 2W 2N 3W 3S 2W 2N.
C3 (7, 9) great hydra hut, destroy for 2 million(you can let great hydras 
regenerate for unlimited experience but your gold will drain soon enough)
D3 (6, 8) major demon hut, 500k
D3 (6, 15) Blistering Heights. How you exit this town can determine which 
sector you're in.
D3 (8, 11) hut with resistance to the elements. It's a distraction on your 
journey.

  The sea parts of these areas are even more treacherous.

C3: (11, 2) (2, 4) (2, 13) Kudo Crabs appear if you try to take the items. 
These guys can break your armor and have lots of endurance. Power shield and 
heroism carry the day. The items are usually worth it.
D2: the NE area features the Pirate Queen. If you have a Precious Pearl of 
Youth and Beauty she gives you 100000 gold. Otherwise she takes all your 
gold. Her location is very random. If you stay close to the coastline you 
should be OK though.
(3, 14) leads to the arena.
D3: (1, 4) (12, 3) (14, 7) are where you can find great items. Octobeasts, 
which take a lot of damage, defend them if you try to attack. Use power 
shield and heroism.

      4-2-21. C4/D4/E4

  Pirate treasure is real on "onesdays" here in C4 and D4.

C4 is a pretty simple level where you can get endurance from a well, which 
doesn't really help.
(7, 8) (15, 15) treasure
(5, 8) Castle Greywind
(7, 10) +60 accuracy
(6, 5) +60 endurance

D4 is not too bad but unfortunately there are no huts to bust out.
(10, 1) shell on day 99--you lose 2 days after picking it up
(2, 4) (3, 11) (10, 11) (6, 10) chest
(8, 11) -150 hp well
(6, 8) Blackwind's castle

E4 has a lot to offer, but the only resting places it has to offer are the 
trees:

(7, 8) magic cavern
(5, 7) barbarian hut +500k experience to destroy
(9, 8) death locust hut +250k experience to destroy
(6, 5) uncurse well, which is very useful.
(5, 10) well
(12, 10) wishing well
(4, 12) Item in the sand. Pick it up and get attacked by a Vulture Roc. A 
word on vulture rocs: have power shield and Heroism in effect when you dig up 
one of these items in the sand. The items are usually worth the fights and if 
they aren't, reload and try again. Yes, you should be saving frequently in 
these parts.
(10, 11) another item
(8, 6) item, but 2 vulture rocs attack.
(13, 6) item, but 3 vulture rocs attack. This is a very tough fight and you 
will want to hit them with spells.

      4-2-22. CASTLE DUNGEONS: WHITESHIELD

******************
*XXXXXX XX    XX^*
*X   X           *
*X   XX XX    XX *
*X       XXXXXXX *
*X   XX XX   XX  *
*X   X       XX  *
*XXXXXX XX   XXX *
*X       XXXXXXX *
*X   XX XX   XX  *
*X   X       XX  *
*XXXXXX XX   XXX *
*X       XXXXXXX *
*X   XX XX   XX  *
*X   X       XX  *
*X   XX XX   XXX *
*XXXXX   XXXXXXXX*
******************

(9, 3) (9, 1) = +10 all stats, 1 player
(11, 7) = chalice of resistance, 1 player +20% all
(15, 1) = +5 levels for one character

  JOABARY = how to get in

  Major demons are your big opponents to be concerned with here. The rooms to 
the west have evil rangers whom you can take on but the ones to the right 
have major demons whom you need to hit quickly or they can stun you. Power 
shield and heroism...and especially for the boss. He is in the bottom right 
room in the hallway. The big problem here is that you have to use 

      4-2-23. CASTLE DUNGEONS: BLOODREIGN

******************
*   XXX  XX    X *
*    XXXXX    XX *
*X    XXX    XXXX*
*XX    X    XXXXX*
* XX       XXX XX*
*  XX           X*
*   X  X   XXX XX*
*X         XXX XX*
*XX        X     *
*XXX   X   X     *
* XXX      XXXXXX*
*XXX   XX-XX   bX*
*XX   XXX XX    X*
*X   XXX   |    X*
*   XXXXX^XX   aX*
******************

  OGRE = how to get in

  Prisoners at A and B. You have a door to bash down and if you're doing this 
early on, you may want to have the +20 level bit or cast etherealize. The 
Sonic Ninjas are a lot less annoying if you've got bless spells cast all 
over. This is a nice pit stop early in the game to get Son of Abu, who is a 
powerful thief with some very nice items.

  The upper bits have fire all around them and Protection from Fire for a 
level 30 cleric should do the trick. Notice the gaps in the walls. Cast a 
teleport spell to get in there and you will be OK. The locations:

(15, 14-15)
(7-8, 15)

      4-2-24. CASTLE DUNGEONS: DRAGONTOOTH

  20000 = how to get in

  This isn't a bad one, just a big spiral. But you'll want to have raised the 
isle of youth before starting this, since your characters may age after 
drinking the potions in the center of the maze. So although the upper bit may 
be the best castle to look through, this dungeon can probably be put off for 
a while.

******************
* X X X X X$X X ^*
*               X*
*XXXXXXXXXXXXX  $*
*X           X  X*
*X XXXXXXXXX X   *
*X X       X X  X*
*X X XX XX X XX  *
*X X X   X X    X*
*X X X   X X XX  *
*X X XXXXX X X  X*
*X X       X X   *
*X XXXXXXXXX X  X*
*X           X  $*
*XXXXXXXXXXXXX  X*
*                *
*X X X X X X X$X *
******************

(15, 13) (15, 3) (13, 0) (10, 15) $--don't open any other ones or ghosts will 
appear and they are annoying.

In the very inner circle have the evil characters in your party drink up all 
the brews, unless you want to turn an alignment to evil.

    4-3. THE ARENA

  I've managed to get through 15 arena fights in a day, with blessings on my 
whole party. But everything has to be done right. It seems simple enough: 
you're in a 16x16 room and just have to run around and zap all your enemies. 
I really don't consider going into the arena without this protection worth a 
second thought--at least, not early in the game.

  After mucking around I've found there's a way to furrow the ground so that 
you can get in and out fairly quickly. First, turn west and hit a wall, then 
turn left and hit the corner and say yes. You're dropped back in the center 
now. The first thing to do is to rotate around and see if there are any 
enemies to shoot down. Take care of them. Then comes the weeding back and 
forth.

aaaa............
...a............
...a............
...aaaaaaaaaa...
............a...
............a...
............a...
............a...
...aaaaa....a...
...a........a...
...a........a...
...a........a...
...aaaaaaaaaa...
................
................
................

  The above passage should nail most of the monsters that are after you.  It 
allows you to see all squares, and monsters generally tend to gravitate 
towards you when they are close. Before going to a corner for the final time, 
take a look around to make sure you're not being followed.

  You get 1000*(# of times through the arena) experience for each win. 
Originally this is far ahead of the total experience, but monsters' 
experience grows exponentially. Some things to watch out for include sprites 
and Cursed Fools--shoot them from a distance so they don't curse you. Also 
you will, in fight 20, want "protect from elements: fire" to take care of 
things there.

  5. MIDDLE GAME

  You only need to read 5-1 in order to get all 6 hologram sequencing cards. 
Then you just need to complete the endgame. But the side quests in 5-2 will 
help you to pump up a few levels.

    5-1. THE NECESSARY BITS

  The necessary bits are, in fact, great ways to improve your party. You find 
about 2 ultimate orbs in each one, 11 total--for 11000000 experience and 
almost 11 levels. That's not counting any fights you encounter. There are 
also statistical bonuses aplenty as well as artifacts of various alignments 
and even some treasures that flat out increase levels. Enough to bring you to 
the endgame on their own, really. They don't necessarily have to be done in 
some order, but some are clearly easier than others. The numbering of the 
cards, in fact, tips off the order it may be easiest to do things in.

  Although if you are confident in your fighters more than your magic, you 
may want to go with the Dark Warriors' keep first.

      5-1-1. THE FORTRESS OF FEAR

  Not a bad dungeon to go through. It's even easier if you realize you can 
use teleport to enter the Mummy King's chamber and then get out. He's at (26-
27, 11-12) and the card is at (27, 11.) The main thrust here is to pick up a 
hologram sequencing card but there's a lot of character improvement available 
as well. The one thing to note about the Mummy King? He's not affected by 
Holy Word. You'll need swords. If you're still having trouble, work the B1 
triad I've written up elsewhere. It works well.

  Remember 1) to have power shield, 2)to have Holy Bonus and 3) not to open 
any chests except the ones at the very south center. Evil rangers, jousters 
and a king jouster here are your enemies, so no magic. Protective spells work 
well. In each side room there's a number as a clue, along with a very nice 
improvement for a party member who touches the skeleton. At the south you 
have two artifacts.

  If you look around you will find 16 levers and a clue about heads at a 
corner. Levers move only if they can change a static field to an idol head or 
vice versa. Each lever has one function: turn one of eight squares to or from 
an electric field. Levers start out with all electric fields. Here's which 
lever does what, as they are roughly aligned with the squares they influence:

         | head  | field
---------+-------+-------
SW square|  6,12 | 10, 9
 S square| 21, 7 | 11, 8
SE square| 15, 2 | 12, 9
 E square| 24,30 | 21, 8
NE square| 14,29 | 18,22
 N square| 10,29 |  7,29
NW square|  5,21 |  2,30
 W square|  1,17 |  1,18

  So to solve the puzzle you find you need heads at the corner.  That means 
(6, 12) and (15, 2) and (14, 29) and (5, 21). If you mess up, hopefully this 
chart will help point out where to go to switch things around.

      5-1-2. THE HALLS OF INSANITY

  THe Halls of Insanity have enough nasty enemies that you may need to go 
through twice. Mystic Clouds here drain your magic points if they hit you and 
do damage, but the nice thing is, you can avoid this with Power Shield. Mini 
Dragons get you with their fire breath. I find a simple protection from fire, 
along with the immunity in the Blistering Heights cavern, should be enough to 
neutralize these. However, the Evil Eyes in the rooms with the real treasure 
are rather nasty, they turn your party insane, and they can even kill you. So 
it is best to back out to the surface when you can to get healed at the 
Zingaro wagon(one west, then south) and rest up and try again. You might as 
well come in after taking the fountains from B1 but the Evil Eyes have such 
good dexterity they'll hit you anyway.

  Thankfully the map, although it seems to wander, is actually pretty 
straightforward. You might panic not seeing an exit around, but there's a 
secret wall to the north, so just bash that. There are three puzzles to solve 
at first: lions facing to the west, south and east. The answers are BLINK, 
EYES and TEARS. These open up longer passages. Each passage has two branches.

  Once you've answered the riddles you can follow the winding passages, 
breaking down secret doors. There are a few things to watch out for, though. 
First--if thre is treasure in a niche, it is guarded by a teleportal back to 
the main area. This is nice when you've been moved one-way. Second--evil eyes 
are nasty, and the combinations of monsters(drain spell points, then 
brutalize you and turn you insane) can really knock you out. Be sure to check 
your characters' statistics so they don't slide to zero(RIP.)

  To the east, you have nothing critical to the game. Eventually after 
busting walls you'll have a passage of two seeming dead ends. Both secret 
doors. Bust to the east and there are lions that give clues and two cursed 
chests with nothing in them, so don't bother there. Bust to the north and 
fight a ton of mini-dragons. There are some very good items in the treasure 
chest behind them.

  To the west, you will come to a 6x2 room that branches west and east. The 
east has the harder figght, with three evil eyes. Here after busting the door 
down you may wish to snake in sideways, turn forward, and start casting 
spells to see what you can zap. Then you'll need to cast jump spells to reach 
the chests: artifacts of evil to the left and right, and a good 5-item chest 
to the north.

  Taking the west branch of the west passage leads to a fight with just one 
evil eye. I recommend paying the lion here for everyone to get all skills. 
You probably have everything you need by now, but it's fun just to pile up 
these honors. In the upper right corner, there is a chest, but approach it 
from the west or you'll get teleported back. Then go 1W1S and jump east toget 
a chest with...HOLOGRAM SEQUENCING CARD 002. Teleport back now.

  The south branch has two sub-branches, west and east. The east branch is a 
bit shorter but has 4 evil eyes to fight, so maybe you will want to go west. 
Each final room is similar here--orb in niche(jump to it) and eyes to fight 
and chests in the two far corners. One will have 666 gold and 666 gems and 
the other will have 66000 gold. Why not--if only for your robber's 
experience. Definitely save before each fight and you may have to outright 
rest up. Note the trips here are almost one-way as you are teleported past 
the magic fields at the beginning of the passage, but you can step on the 
teleport squares guarding the orb to go back. And get out.

      5-1-3. THE DARK WARRIORS' KEEP

  This is the most straightforward of all the hologram dungeons. It's not too 
tough to get to--from Baywatch, go east into the B sectors, then go south 
just after the "please wait" and it's in B3. If you really want to save time 
you can just teleport, but your spell points may be better spent on power 
shields for everyone first, because all your enemies are melee, and you can 
also give Heroism and Blessed from your cleric/paladin. There are no magic 
enemies here. So you probably want to go to B1 for the speed, might and level 
fountains first. You should crush your opponents.

  In fact the most deadly things here are the exploding chests. They kill 
whoever tries to unlock them. Save before opening anything, or better yet, 
just open what's described below.

  You should have the red warrior key from the Cyclops' den, and if you 
really want to make quick work of things, take the door to the south, go all 
the way to Y=0, and answer the riddle to open the room to the east. It holds 
two Ultimate Power Orbs. There are also two Ancient Artifacts here. Open the 
chests along the bottom and no others.

  Although this cave isn't too bad to clear out, it's worthwhile to look at 
the skeletons. From the opening room in the north center, there are seven 
passages behind grates. Each has a skeleton which beefs up virtues 
impressively. Take advantage of this.

      5-1-4. THE CATHEDRAL OF CARNAGE

  For this one you'll want to take along two suckers, uh, brave non-magic 
users so that they can drink from the very nasty chalices that cause you to 
turn eradicated. Then dismiss them and don't even bother to build them a 
monument for their bravery, even with all the gold you have. Your good party 
members can rationalize this by shunning false idols, your neutral ones don't 
care, and your evil ones think the idea's a blast. And you probably don't 
want the hassle of going to a temple. So that's okay then!

  The Cathedral of Carnage is pretty linear, too. Rundown below:

  The square (28, 5) is cursed. It's the one with the talking idol. So don't 
listen to it. There aren't many fights but it does make the rest of the trip 
much harder.

Moo clerics and gargoyles in big room. Kill them and the moo priests before 
drinking the foul cups:

    Erad Ston Death
    Erad Ston Death
    (4-7-10, 14-16)

+5 levels for Mighty Moo Juice at the very very end in the "JVC III room" 
went to my Sorcerer.

O M O E S  <--from



E W v S D  <--to

  Here is the map for the puzzle that's tricky. The answer is "weeds" and you 
get a heckload of goodies for it. The question is, what's going on? It's a 
cryptogram of the sort you thought phazed out in MM1/MM2.

S becomes D, E S, M W and O E. The key is MOOSE. So the answer is WEEDS. 
Cute.

      5-1-5. THE TOMB OF TERROR

  The Tomb of Terror requires you to go through a lot of fights. If you don't 
complete everything in one area, a force field will bar you from the next. 
They start off easy and you won't need Turn Undead for the first bit, but 
eventually you'll want to use Holy Word to zap ghosts and avoid getting aged, 
as the reversal process is hell to go through.

  In fact you may want to visit the Arachnoid Cavern to bulk up a bit or you 
may find yourself resting after every fight. There you can get +20 
personality and +25 intelligence. Eventually this leads to more spell points, 
and the more Holy Word you can cast(clerics) or Mega Volt or even 
Implosion(sorcerers) before resting, the better off you'll be for the end 
fights. Because you don't just want to win them, you want to win without 
getting aged or getting anyone killed.

  Also, any chests you see? Don't open them until you've cleared EVERYTHING. 
There's some good treasure here, but the chests curse you, and your weapons 
are so much less effective against the undead than spells. Fortunately the 
curses aren't cumulative so you can win easily once you start. You can also 
teleport into rooms that aren't beyond the force field, which helps things. 
But you can't teleport beyond force fielded areas. (?)

  There's a long corridor east at first. Thee rooms to the side feature 
skeletons, zombies and ghouls. I was able to whip the first two without Turn 
Undead and ghouls were enough of a nuisance that I pulled out the spells. 
Still things aren't too bad especially when the last three rooms to the 
north(out of eight) don't have any monsters. Then you go south and pull back 
left, and after an easy room with skeletons, you face ghosts, phantoms and 
reapers the rest of the way.

  Some fighting strategy is necessary here. You may want to teleport past a 
door to get a fighting advantage, and you'll want to try your best to line 
enemies up in a row. This means you conserve spells. And since you can 
teleport between rooms it may be best to stand at the east edge of one and 
teleport west six squares(east edge of the next.) It may even be worth saving 
and reloading to find where you can teleport to line enemies up for a quick 
knockout, to see if they move with you or not even when they can't "see" you.

  The last part is the toughest of all and I think that here, you need to 
break open a door, turn to the side and sidestep. Then turn back forward. 
Otherwise a lich may cast a spell at you that will kill you before you can 
cast implosion, which turns out to be very useful near the end as well.

  Once you've cleaned up you can go back and get all the treasures. From east 
to west rooms, you have

1: artifact of good
2: artifact of good
3: Gas Trap, items
4: Divine Intervention, items
5: Sun Ray, items

  The orbs are off to the side below, with the sequencing card in one of the 
side chests as well. So you should get cursed anyway--so why not loot up 
after then? You may have to come back for some treasure, though, as you may 
get cursed *twice*. If you know about the wells in E4 and F4, that may help 
save some game-time.

(12, 2) Orb--Lich pops up NW after
(12, 6) Orb--Lich pops up SW after
(18, 6) Koshek's tomb
(18, 2) Neshek's tomb, card 005
(8, 2) Mirk Cauldelle, ancient artifact of evil
(8, 6) Ndru Cauldelle, ancient artifact of evil
(5, 9) Deeth, ancient artifact of good
(11, 9) ancient artifact of good
(16, 10) tomb, gas in chest
(18, 10) Blude's tomb, items
(22, 10) Blayde's tomb, Divine Intervention spell
(24, 10) Phyre's tomb, items

      5-1-6. THE MAZE FROM HELL

  There are a lot of things to beware of here. Minotaurs are hard to hit but 
kill you on contact. Medusas throw a spell at you that turns everyone to 
stone. But there are some great treasures if you are patient. You can cheat 
your characters up many levels but in fact the best way to go about 
completing this maze is to use the following spells: Power Shield and 
Heroism. The first protects against the minotaur's death touch and the second 
allows you to hit him significantly. You really want to be level 30+ before 
attempting this but if you've been through the first five dungeons above that 
should happen just from the quests you've solved.

  The only REAL object here is drinking from the fountain in the center of 
the maze to be an Ultimate Adventurer. But you can also go and nab orbs. You 
can teleport wherever you want here, which makes it easy to pass by 
whirlpools, but I added a text map just in case. In fact, you have to jump by 
whirlpools.

  Note that at 500000 per 6-member party per enemy you have a lot of 
potential to get better very quickly.

XXXXXXXXXXX.....X...............
X!.X...X.X..XXXXX.X.XXXXXXXXXXXX
XX.X.XXX.XX.....X.X......X......
X...........XXXXX.XXXXX.XX.XXXX.
XX.XXXXXX.X.X...X.......X...X...
...X......X.X.XXXXXX.XXXX.XXXXX.
XX.X.XX.XXX...X..~.X.X......X...
X..X..XXX...X...XXXX.~.XXXXXX.XX
XX.X.XX...X.X~XXX..~.X....X6X..X
X..X....XXX~.~....XX.X.XX...XX..
..XXXXXXX...XX.XX..X.X..XXX..XX.
.XX.....X.X.X...X.XXXXX...XX..XX
..X.XX.XX.X~..F...X!..XXX..XX...
.XX..X.X..X.X...X.XXX...XX..XXX.
..X.XX.~.XX.XX.XX~..X.X..XX.X...
.XX..X.X......~~..X.XXXX....X.XX
..X.XX.X.XX.XXX.XXX....XXXXXX.X.
X......XXX...X....XXXX.X......X.
XXXXXX...XXXXXXXX.X.X....XXXXXX.
X......X.X........X...X.XX.X....
X.XXXX.X.XXX.XX.XXXXXXX~X....XXX
XXX....X..~...X.X....X....X~XX.X
X...XX~XX.X.X...XXXX...XXXX....X
XXXXX...XXXXX.XXX..X.XXX..X.XX.X
X.....X.....X.....XX.X.XX.X..X.X
X.XXX.XXXXX.XXXXX....X.X..X.XX.X
X.X.X.X.......X...XXXX.XX.X..X.X
X.X.X...XXX.X.XXXXX.......~.XX.X
X...X.X.X.X.X.......XXXX.XX..X.X
XXXXX.X.X.XXX.X.X.X....X..XX.XXX
X!X.X.X.X.....X.X.XXXX.XX..X....
........XXXXXXXXX.......XX^XXXXX

6 = hologram card # 6
! = orb
$ = chest
% = booby trapped chest
~ = whirlpool(sends you to 6, 30)

(31, 31) 2 medusa + 3 minotaur + minotaur king
(8, 15) (7, 25) (15, 1) great treasure
(1, 30) (19, 19) (30, 31) (1, 1) orb
(3, 5) (1, 0) medusa + minotaur
(19, 19) 2 medusa
(5, 24) (15, 5) (31, 15) (30, 3) (10, 12) (3, 14) (1, 9) (0, 26) (10, 3) 
medusa
(7, 20) (1, 28) 2 minotaurs
(18, 8) (31, 1) (1, 30) (17, 0) (7, 5) (15, 27) (15, 29) (15, 31) (24, 8) 
(29, 27) (31, 21) (27, 25) (24, 29) (19, 13) minotaurs
(26, 4) (10, 10) (7, 17) (6, 9) (11, 22) (13, 23) (17, 25) (11, 19) (14-15, 
16) (17, 17) (13, 22) (19, 23) (21, 24) (23, 11) (27, 10) whirlpools
(28, 5) (24, 6) (21, 17) RIP
(4, 18) (22, 7) (3, 1) eradicate
(1, 17) (8, 30) (11, 3) stone

  You can just plow through and teleport where you need, leaving the NE out 
if necessary(although you can teleport onto that and cast time distortion,) 
or you can sucker monsters into following you around if they are guarding an 
orb. For instance the dead end orb at (19,19) may require you to wait 2R-D or 
even go up 2R and pull back down and let the monsters follow you(sidestep and 
backpedal to keep them in view) before teleporting over them. Watch out for 
the 3-long corridor though as the medusas may get a hit in on you.

  At any rate you should still have a few Implosions ready...just in case. 
They will probably be needed for the Minotaur King anyway.

  5-2. STRETCHING THE # OF ORBS OUT TO 31

  Now, if everything's gone well, you've got 12 orbs, which are more than 
enough to complete the game. If you followed my advice and gave one king all 
8 orbs before heading to the Maze from Hell, you can give the remaining 4 
orbs to the king you gave the other 8 to and skip to section 5-3. In fact, if 
you want to disregard story-important stuff, you can even head to 5-4, which 
is surprisingly anticlimactic. There's a cheap way to get through for 
starters and a long way after that. Just beware--if you get to the Main 
Control Room, there's no way back.

  These dungeons with orbs aren't strictly necessary to finish the game, but 
it does seem that they help you along a good deal. You can find these clues 
in the pyramids or even this guide, but it always felt proper for me to make 
this detour. While it's technically possible to complete the game by just 
seeing the A- and B-sectors, along with 3/4 of the Isle of Fire, E2, F2 and 
F3(E1 is nice but optional,) these help flesh out the game a bit more with 
minimal risk and loss of time on your part. And in case you missed any 
puzzles, you can figure what's going on here.

      5-2-1. DRAGON CAVERN

  There are a few orbs in here. Four in fact. See the Dragon Cavern 
section(6-3) for further details. They are probably the toughest ones in the 
game to get in a fight-and-slash kind of way.

      5-2-2. THE PYRAMIDS AND THE STORAGE AREAS

  Storage areas are hidden beneath the pyramids and are organized pretty 
logically. You can find a whopping 15 orbs in what I call the "crib sheet" 
areas. They're organized as follows:

 Main----Forward--Central--  Aft
Control  Storage  Command  Storage

  You can also use teleportals to shift around from aft storage to the main 
control room, where you can go to the Alpha and Beta storage areas. In 
general you'll want to have Heroism here because there are many enemies such 
as the ED-409 who are outright tough to hit, and otherwise you'll need to use 
spells. Power-shields across the whole party can help too as can resistance 
to electrical fields.

  The next three areas are connected by teleportals. You say PRIMARY to get 
to the main control room, WARP for Alpha Sector and SUBLEVEL to get to Beta 
Engine Sector.

             Main Engine
            ^^         ^^
            vv         vv
  Alpha Sector << >>  Beta Sector

        5-2-2-1. CENTRAL COMMAND

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
       X    X  X
XXXXXX X X  X  X
X   XX X XXXXX X
X              X
XXXXXX ^ XXXXXXX
X             XX
X XXXX X XXXX XX
X X  X X XXX   X >> Aft storage
X X    X   X   X << Forward storage
X X    X   X   X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X XX XX XX XX XX

X XX XX XX XX XX

  You enter Central Control from the pyramid in C4.

        5-2-2-2. AFT STORAGE

******************
*XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX*
*X+        X     *
*XXXXXXXX XX     *
*X+    X         *
*X     XX XX     *
*X     XX XXXXXXX*
*X     X  XX  XXX*
*XXX XXXX     X+T*
*XXX XXXX XX  X T*
*XX   XXX XXXXXXX*
*XX   XXX XX     *
*XXX XXX         *
*XXX XXXX XX     *
-          X     *
*XXX XXXX XXXXXXX*
******************

  There are a lot of answers here to puzzle you may have missed. There are 
also 3 orbs. Your opponents are Mystic Cloud, Ed-409 and Iron Wizards. For 
the second you need holy bonus and power shield, which also protects you from 
the first draining your spell points.

(1, 12) (1, 14) (14, 8) ORBS. One is behind a locked door, one is behind a 
bunch of enemies, and the other is behind a teleportal you can really only 
reach from the main section. There are also other clues here. Note also that 
(14, 8) is where you go if you say ORB MEISTER into a mirror.

(3, 11) town portal--all codes
(2, 10) mirror portal--all codes
(4, 10) 645 = the first half of the sequence(no need for Grey/Blackwind then 
eh?)

(14, 13) 231
(14, 12) YOUTH

  For Halls of Insanity:
(14, 2) "eyes"
(14, 3) "blink"
(14, 4) "tears"

(15, 7) sends you back to the main area
(15, 8) sends you back to Fountain Head

        5-2-2-3. FORWARD STORAGE

******************
*XX XX XX XX XX X*
-                - > central command
*XX XX XX XX XX X* < main control
*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*
*X         XXXXXX*
*X XXXXXXXXX    +*
*X XXX XXXXX    X*
*X              +*
*XXXX   XXXX    X*
*          X    +*
*X XXX XXX XXXXXX*
*X X XXXXX XX  +X*
*X    +X       +X*
*X    +X   XXXXXX*
*X    +X         -
*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*

  Entering via the top will get you to the endgame, but entering the bottom 
part will lead you to some pretty serious treasure. Phase heads and Iron 
Wizards are the enemies here so as long as you have a few protective spells 
it shouldn't be too bad.

(9, 11) answer YOUTH when the idol asks what is lost(the guy with the skulls 
tips you off about this)
(15, 8) +20 intelligence
(15, 6) +20 personality
(15, 10) +20 might
(14, 4) +20 luck
(5, 1) +20 speed
(5, 2) +20 accuracy
(5, 3) +20 endurance
(14, 3) +2 levels

  The package that comes with the game states that you can get this once a 
year so you may want to explore this pyramid when you can early on. +20 speed 
is not to be missed out on.

        5-2-2-4. MAIN CONTROL

******************
*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*
*XXXXXXXX        *
*XXXXXXXXXX   X X*
*XXX    |     X  *
*XXXXXXXX   XXX X*
*X XXX    XXXXX X*
*   XXX   X   | X*
*!      XXXX XX T*
*       XXX XXX T*
*   XXX   X   | X*
*X XXX    XXXXX X*
*XXXXXXXX   XXX X*
*XXX    |     X  *
*XXXXXXXXXX   X X*
*XXXXXXXX        *
*XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*
******************

  There are some strong doors here you can't break down without 150+ might 
but they just hide an eliminator each. Towards the left side there are a lot 
of eliminators. If you can clear them all you get to the message at the very 
back. But all you have to do, on entry, is go left and down and hit one of 
the transporters, then push 6-4-5-2-3-1 and watch the endgame sequence. The 
locks near the transporters require ~200 thievery skill to break down. But 
there are just more fights behind them.

        5-2-2-5. MAIN ENGINE

******************
*XXXXX TXXXXXXXXX*
*    X XX1X1X1X1X*
*   XX XX1X1X1X1X*
*                *
*   XX XX1X1X1X1X*
*    X XX1X1X1X1X*
*XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX*
* oX ^  Xo Xo Xo *
*c X    X cX cX c*
*XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX*
*    X XXTXTXTXTX*
*   XX XX1X1X1X1X*
*                *
*   XX XX1X1X1X1X*
*    X XX1X1X1X1X*
*XXXXX TXXXXXXXXX*
******************

  You have answers to a few more puzzles here. (6,0) goes to Alpha with the 
right password and (6,15) does likewise for Beta. (3, 10) echo and tomorrow. 
(3, 14) mirror and chair.

  There are a few teleportal crystals here that are potentially confusing.

( 8, 5) to ( 9, 7) so you can get the orb at (11, 8).
  The (9, 8) crystal goes to (1, 7).
(10, 5) to (12, 7) so you can get the orb at (15, 8).
  The (12, 8) crystal goes to (1, 7).
(12, 5) to (15, 7) so you can get the orb at (14, 8).
  The (15, 8) crystal goes to (1, 7).
(14, 5) to (1, 7) so you can get the orb at (8, 8).
  The (0 , 8) crystal goes to the aft storage enclosure. There's another orb 
there.

  From the (1,7) area there is another crystal that sends you to Aft Storage, 
where you have 2 transporters: one back to the main engine, the other back to 
Fountain Head.

Again, orbs at (1,8) (8,8) (11,8) (14,8)

        5-2-2-6. ALPHA SECTOR

******************
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
******************

  Most crystals--well, all of them--add 1 to your age. You'll be fighting ED-
409s and spirit shields here so keep the powershield/heroism sharp. Plowing 
through this reveals a few more answers you might not have gotten to other 
puzzles in the game, as well as 3 orbs.

(15, 1) (15, 9) (0, 14) orb
(2, 13) Bloodreign words for basement
(2, 9) Alpha passcode
(2, 5) type CREATORS at Central control
(2, 1) 20301 in Arachnoid Cavern.

        5-2-2-7. BETA SECTOR

  This is a vertical mirror of the Alpha sector, except for different clues 
and one more orb.

******************
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
*     XX XX X X X*
*                *
*     XX XX X X X*
*XXXXXX   XXXXXXX*
******************

(10, 1) (14, 7) (1, 15) (1, 7) ORB
(2, 14) Whiteshield words
(2, 10) Dragontooth #
(2, 6) Beta passcode
(2, 2) ICICLE and SECRET are 2 more answers

    5-3. THE NOT SO NECESSARY BITS

      5-3-1. GREYWIND

******************
*....XXX.XXX..:..*
*..:.X.X.X.X.X...*
*XXX.XXX.XXX.XX.X*
*T:.....:.......^*
*XXXXXXX.X.XXXX.X*
*T...X.X.....:X..*
*XXX.XXX..:.....:*
*...:...:....X.XX*
*.X..XXX.....X.XX*
*..:.X.X....XX.XX*
*X.X.XXX...XX...X*
*:.:......XX.....*
*X.X.XXX.XX.....X*
*....X.X.X.....XX*
*XXX.XXX:XX...XXX*
*T.:......XX!XXXX*
******************

  Your opponents here are screamers(use power shield,) fire 
lizards(protection from fire) and dinosaurs. None of these should kill you 
and anyway if the screamers do happen to hit you, see the pool at (12, 3).

  There's a very pleasing word play puzzle here. A fountain at (0, 15) tells 
the story of an archer, Reharc. Then you learn about a ranger Regran and his 
cleric sister(9, 5??). This ties into the puzzle at (7, 15) where the down 
stairs are. You have to arrange (last 3 letters reversed) (1st 3 letters) to 
get CIRCLE.

  There are also items at the holes inside the squares. They aren't anything 
mind shattering but they're fun. (5, 10) and (5, 14) have 25k/100 gems. You 
also have three thrones that become activated on day 50.

(0, 10) great possessions
(0, 12) great riches
(0, 0) great power--this is the best of the lot. I like to let my Paladin sit 
there if I'm able to complete this quest on day 50 or so. Later on there may 
not be enough gold in Great Riches to increase one's levels.

  Other stuff:
(2,2) $$
(8,0) $$
(0,8) 5 items

    5-3-2. GREYWIND DUNGEON

******************
*................*
*.X.........X..H.*
*......X.$.......*
*................*
*.GX.............*
*.....XXXXXXX.X..*
*..$..X.....X....*
*.....X.....X..$.*
*.....X.....X....*
*.X...X$X.X^X....*
*.....XXX.XXX..X.*
*................*
*..X.............*
*....$.X.. X.....*
*.H.........$..H.*
*................*
******************

  Amusingly the Gods of Game Restoration don't let you save in here. It 
baffles me as to why...there are tougher places they could have done it. But 
that's the breaks.

  There's not a lot to do in this dungeon and in fact I do encourage messing 
up just a BIT. Basically you have a huge empty space with a small room in the 
center. All gold is illusory but you can get a ton of experience by solving 
the puzzle wrong, fighting a bunch of Great Hydras, and then solving the 
puzzle. Here's what to do.

  The right way--go to 1,1 and turn the hourglass. Go to 14, 1 and turn that 
hourglass and repeat at 14,14. Ring the gong at 1, 11. That opens up the NW 
hourglass. Go in a circle--there are few barricades--flip all four 
hourglasses, and ring the gong again. That's the safe way.

  But if you want to get a little extra experience, you can flub on purpose. 
After opening the NW, flip all the hourglasses down except the NW. Then ring 
the gong. In every solitary wall square on the map, a Great Hydra will now 
appear. That's a total of eight. They give a lot of experience and good 
treasure too. But you will want to have Holy Bonus and Power Shield and 
Protection from Fire, at the very least, active. And you'll probably want to 
be level 50+. While you can come back later you'll have to fight your way 
through at least four of these guys to live for that moment.

    5-3-3. BLACKWIND

******************
*$o          o X$*
*X X XO XX X X Xa*
*^   o         XX*
*X X X XX X X    *
*        o       *
*XXXXXX X X   XXX*
*     X X X X X o*
*oX aXXoX X     X*
*   XX  X Xa XXXX*
*  XX  XX XX    $*
*  X  XX   XXo X *
* XX XX     XX X *
* X  X   $   X   *
*  o XX     XX Xo*
* X   XX   XX  X *
*TX X aXX!XXv  XT*
******************

  Castle Blackwind features a bunch of poison pools with the main monsters 
being Piranas(sic.) Going into the pools poisons characters so you may wish 
to get where you're going before you cure everyone. You can probably jump 
over the pools to get where you want, though. There's a fountain that gives 
you all spells for 2 million, which is a ripoff seeing as how you can buy 
them individually for much cheaper(and this doesn't count any scrolls found.)

  The pattern here is OTTFFSEN and the clue is at (5,8). My scratchy notes 
say "5 past 6, 5 past 4--think often and may be discovered"--the "often" is 
really a clever pun. Placing 5 near 4 and 6 may make us realize that the 
pattern is

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
etc.

  Therefore the last word is TEN. It's just the letters of numbers.

  There are a few places where you can find treasure which isn't mind numbing 
but it might be cool. You can also teleport into (15, 15) to get goodies but 
the problem is that you are next to a pool that sucks you into the arena. And 
you can also sit on the thrones on the day of the sorcerer's wedding. I 
forgot if it was 50 or 60.

  A Mystic Cloud guards the doors you need to pass to reach Blackwind's 
throne and Dinosaurs appear in the SE area.

    5-3-4. BLACKWIND DUNGEON

  Amusingly the Gods of Game Restoration don't let you save in here. It 
baffles me as to why...there are tougher places they could have done it. But 
that's the breaks.

  This is a very tricky teleport dungeon. Thankfully some general mapping 
heuristics take it down a few pegs right away.

******************
*1.Xb...X    X .^*
*X....X.b bX a .X*
*bcbXb..bXb  bX.b*
* X .J.X    Xba..*
* ...XbbbbX    X *
*b.Xb.J.X   bX   *
*X....X.. bXbbbbX*
*bbbXbbb.X....Xbb*
* Xb.J.X...bX....*
* ...X...bXbbbbX.*
* .XbbbbX ...X...*
*X....Xb...X... X*
* bbX.bb.XbbbbX  *
*cXbb..X.b  Xbbbb*
*c...X.bJ.X....Xc*
*2.X...bX...bX3..*
******************

a = teleport to (13, 15)
b = teleport to (15, 1)
c = teleport to (14, 14)
. = path through maze, with optional J(ump)

  This dungeon features no monsters as the main obstacles are teleportals. 
With decent mapping skills(or this map, which was begotten from my own decent 
mapping skills) it's a lot easier though. Since teleports bounce into others 
it may be confusing at first. But the basic plot is to get to the SE corner, 
then the SW, then the NW. You will want to have 1) resurrect, plus access to 
the fountain, or 2) a hireling you can chuck quickly once he's eradicated, 
because the NW statue eradicates a character.

  Despite the teleports there's an easy way throught his. First, go W 2S and 
sidestep E--or just S E N. This kicks you to (15, 1). Here you want to move 
south. If you turn at (15, 1) you're kicked back to (14, 14) near the start, 
and if you go north you're bumped back to (15, 1). You can jump north but why 
bother when there's one of the three statues you need to visit, S 2W. Pay 
100k gold.

  From there N 3W S 2W N W and I recommend jumping west. S 2W N 2W S W. Pay 
1000 gems. Now you can backtrack or you can just teleport--6 north then 9 
north...or retrace to where you jumped, N W 2N 3W 2N 2E N E (jump N) N E 
(jump N) W (jump N) 3W N W. It uses about the same spell points and a lot 
less annoying time. The character-to-be-eradicated is still annoying, though. 
But once you've made the sacrifice, E 2S to a teleport and N E.

  5-4. OK, OK, ON WITH IT ALREADY

    5-4-1. THE CHEAP WAY. I WANT OUT!

  This is not too tough. Make sure you have the pyramid key card but, if not, 
take the Town Portal to Blistering Heights. Exit to the west. 2W 2N 3W 3S 2W 
2N to the Pyramid. The west door on the north side leads to a long corridor 
where you need to unlock doors and bash anything that looks even like a wall. 
You'll head to the forward storage sector(first PLEASE WAIT) and then to the 
main control room(second PLEASE WAIT from which you can't return without Mr 
Wizard's help.) From there, turn south at the first chance. Take either of 
the portals to the west at Y=7 or 8. Type in the sequence 6-4-5-2-3-1. Watch 
the end bit and see how high you score.

    5-4-2. WHAT MORE CAN I DO?

  Well, at the VERY back you have a bunch of eliminators to fight through. 
With ultimate intelligence, a level 100+ sorcerer and a few saves I managed 
to get to the very back. There's a little message back there. It says to 
include the secret word KTOW to register your score with the Ancients, which 
isn't relevant now.

  As for improving your score the easiest way to do that is to find tough 
monsters and take them out. If you keep playing at the arena it should pump 
your experience up a lot more. Even if you don't get actual LEVELS you should 
still get the points for the experience.

  6. SIDE DUNGEONS

    6-1. CURSED COLD CAVERN

  The three monsters here are Wicked Witch, Cursed Hand and Black Knight. You 
can invalidate the Wicked Witch's curse spells by casting a Power Shield 
spell on everyone, and if you don't this otherwise easy dungeon becomes 
arduous. Holy Bonus for fighters doesn't hurt either so you can hit the 
Cursed Hands, although there are a lot of guillotines scattered around that 
may cause a loss of hit points.

  Without Power Shield you'll have to use the sidestep action to get close to 
the witches. There will be a lot of saving and reloading. So just use Power 
Shield. That makes this dungeon pretty easy. If the guillotines nail you for 
too many hit points see if you can heal before continuing. Before the final 
fight you may want to rest up to take on the Black Knight although a few 
Implosion spells should dispose of him easily enough.

(12, 0) (20, 5) ancient artifact of neutrality
(21, 8) fizbin of misfortune--head to E2 (8,8) with it if you haven't 
already.
(2, 24) Black Terror Key
(9, 28) (22, 19) pearl of beauty
(12, 14-15) ancient artifact of evil on each square.
(12, 2) (22, 21) (7, 29) +20 magic
(14, 13) (14, 15) (16, 13) (16, 15) +1 level

    6-2. MAGIC CAVERN

  The Magic Cavern has some nice attribute boosts and even some scrolls in 
case a secondary/tertiary magic user doesn't have them yet, though this may 
be a big if. You'll want to beware of purple squares which deaden light 
spells(unmarked here, but maybe have your druid memorize light spells,) and 
there are some liches scattered around in tombs and behind doors, to counter 
the treasure you find generally lying around. There's not a lot of experience 
here, but the extra speed is nice since it's relatively rare to find.

  There are a few guardians and sorcerers tooling around here and you will 
want to have your cleric cast protection from cold. Then engage quickly.

  The Gold Master Key is also here if you choose not to rip off a hireling 
for it. It's behind a few doors.

XXXXXX    XXXXXXX^XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  XX   XX XXXXXX   XXXXXXXXX   X
     XXXX   XX         XXX    XX
  i  XX     XXXX    XX        XX
X   XX   s   XXXX  XXXXX    i  X
    XX       XXXX  XXXXXXXX    X
X  XXXXX    XXXXXX  X  XXXXXX XX
XX X  XXX  XXXXXXX    i XXXXX XX
XXXX XXXX XXXXXXX          X   X
XXXX XXXX XXXXXX  XX    XXXX   X
XX    XX   XX    XXXX XXXXXXXXXX
X    XX       XXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX
  s      i   XXX  XXX XXX  L  XX
X    XX               XXX     XX
XX  XXXXs    XX   XXXXXXXX   XXX
XX XXXX     XXXX XXXX XXXXX  XXX
XX XXXX XX  XXXXXXX    XXXX XXXX
X   XXX XXX             XX  XXXX
XXXXX    XXXXXX XX  s  XX   XXXX
XX        XXXXX XX             X
X    XX   XXXX   XX  X      XXXX
    XXXX XXXX    XXXXX XX    XXX
   XXXX   XX    XXXXX  XXX   XXX
X   X     XX    XXXX  XXXXX XXXX
XX       XX    XXX   XXXXXX XXXX
XXX    XXXX   XXX     XXXXX XXXX
XXXX  XXXXXX XXXX   s XXXXX  LXX
XXX   XXXXXX XXXX     XXXXXX   X
X      XXXX   X    L      GXX XX
L  L i XXXX   XX   X   XX  XX XX
X XX  XXXXXXXXXXX XXX XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(26, 3) GOLD MASTER KEY
(27, 19) (29, 5) (19, 3) (3, 2) (0, 2) lich tomb
(12, 4) lich behind door
(19, 7) drain 50 hit points
(2, 28) (5, 2) (9, 19) (22, 24) (28, 27) +10 intelligence--emerald pool
(20, 5) (20, 13) (8, 17) (2, 19) (9, 27) +10 speed--emerald pool
(13, 29) fireball
(30, 22) dragon breath

    6-3. DRAGON CAVERN

  This is a very fun dungeon even without the 15 million+ gold you get by 
tearing through it. There's a dragon lord here and you have a bunch of green 
dragons(poison or acid I believe) so you may wish to visit the relevant 
dragon in Blistering Heights, zap to Swamp Town and teleport to F1. Then cast 
protection from acid. It doesn't hurt to be leveled up at B1 beforehand as 
well.

  The draconi you'll meet at first aren't exactly fear inspiring. Acid pools 
have 50 gems each too but that is small potatoes compared to what's 
elsewhere. You'll find too much to hold even if you bring along two dead 
hirelings.

  Throw it all at the Dragon Lord including implosion spells. The treasure 
behind is worth it. If you clear this, that's four orbs.

(22, 4) (25, 4) (3, 2) (12, 1) $250K
(10, 4) (3, 30) (26, 29) (29, 25) (24, 6) (3, 5) (10, 4) (3, 30) $50K
(6, 10) (7, 11) $1 million--this is where DOE MEISTER at the portals goes to
(18, 10) (19, 11) $1 million
(2, 1) (27, 5) (13, 3) (21, 5) ORBS
(29, 16) 5 million
(23, 1) 5 million + items

  7. OTHER AREA OVERVIEWS

  8. FLOW CHART

Temple of Moo -> Crusader skills -> enter castles

Drink might potions--------+
                           +->break A4(15, 15) glass for
Might under Swamp Town-----+  pyramid key

Arachnoid Cavern-----------+  Yellow Fortress Key
                           +->(Fortress of fear)-->card 001
Sir Galant(BaywatchD 15,1)-+  No orbs

Cyclops Cavern-------------+  Green Eyeball Key
                           +->(Halls of Insanity)-->card 002
Darlana(BaywatchD 15,0)----+  2 orbs(NW area, fight, jump)

Cyclops Cavern-------------+  Red Warrior Key
                           +->(Dark Warrior Keep)-->card 003
Lone Wolf(WildabarD 0, 13)-+  2 orbs("314")

Arachnoid Cavern-----------+  Blue Unholy Key
                           +->(Cathedral of Carnage)-->card 004
Wartowsan(WildabarD 4,7)---+  2 orbs(JVC=password)

Cursed Cold Cavern---------+  Black terror key-->card 005
                           +->(Tomb/terror)
Son/Abu(Bloodreign-D 14,0)-+  2 orbs(lich fight)

Magic Cavern---------------+
                           +->Gold Master key-->card 006
The Raven(Town 5 inn)------+ (Maze from hell)
                             4 orbs(minotaur/medusa/minotaur king)
                         (also teleport to fountain in
                         center of maze to be Ultimate Adventurer)

solve greywind dungeon + solve blackwind dungeon = learn launch code
(not necc. to complete game)

11 orbs to one king--+
                     +-> blue passcard +
Ultimate Adventurer--+   pyramid key =
                         enter main engine room
                         +greywind/blackwind key(645231)
                         = win game.

  Grid of artifacts and orbs

                     O| G| N| E
-------------------+--+--+--+--
Blistering Heights |  | 1| 1| 1
Bloodreign         |  | 2|  | 2
Cathedral/Carnage  | 2|  |  |
Cursed Cold Cavern |  | 2| 2| 2
Cyclops Cavern     |  | 2| 2|
Dark Warriors' Keep|  |  | 2|
Dragon Caves       | 4|  |  |
Dragontooth        |  |  | 2|
Fortress of Fear   |  | 2| 1|
Halls of Insanity  | 2|  |  | 2
Maze from Hell     | 4|  |  |
Slithercult Caves  |  |  | 1|
Swamp Town         |  |  |  | 2
Swamp Town Cavern  |  |  |  | 2
Tomb of Terror     | 2| 2|  | 2
Whiteshield        |  |  |  | 2
-------------------+--+--+--+--
Aft Storage        | 3|  |  |
Alpha Engine       | 4|  |  |
Beta Engine        | 4|  |  |
Main Engine        | 4|  |  |

My endgame count was 11-15-11 so I will have to check.

  9. FLAGRANT CHEATS AND FLY-THROUGH

  If actually playing through the game doesn't concern you much, then here's 
how to go about things. First of all, you can type ORB MEISTER at the portal, 
get an orb, and go back. Then you can type DOE MEISTER and get lots of gold. 
This puts your game off to a great start. You'll have no problem buying 
anything and can probably put the cash, or 1950000 of it, in the bank to get 
obscene interest on the days you aren't training.

  From there you need to complete the Fountain Head quest. It really isn't 
too tough even with level ~4 characters. Just heal after you pass through the 
pendulums and rest up on the way back--and don't forget to learn the Swim 
spell either as it is critical. Use energy blast on the Rat Overlord. With 
Fountain Head saved you can go to the fountain and convert the 2000000 gold 
into experience--although you may wish to calculate and give the cleric 
1536000 and the sorcerer 2048000.

  I'd advise giving the experience to your Cleric and Sorcerer. They will be 
able to cast whatever spells they want, by-level spells will be much more 
powerful, and a good Protect from Elements spell will come in handy. And your 
weakest links hit-point-wise will be buffered. Giving a robber experience 
might help with a few locks, but there's always the artificial way of 
drinking at the +20 level island fountain in B1 and then ripping off the 
hirelings later, especially Son of Abu for the Pirate Ring.

  By the time you get to level 8 you should be able to clear the Temple of 
Moo. Do so and then use the Crusader skill to enter Castle Whiteshield and 
get 1000000 experience for everyone. This should get you to decent levels. 

  If you are able to start off without a thief and get to the Halls of 
Insanity so everyone gets all abilities, things work out even better--here 
you may want to start until the thief gets 200000 or so experience and then 
dump him for an archer. First you need to go to the Baywatch dungeon to 
rescue the NPC's and then take Sir Galant's green key from him. You can then 
visit Moo with the archer to get the Crusader skills and crash through the 
Halls of Insanity and give everyone all attributes. You now have pseudo-
thieves at the cost of maybe 200000 experience. The Pirate Ring, when you go 
to the Blood Reign basement, and such should make up for the lack of natural 
talent.

  Many of the quests aren't really necessary, and if you're at level 50 you 
can probably just pick up all the cards and keys you need, with a stop-off in 
Blistering Heights(REDHOT.) The 11 orbs, the minimum necessary, are along the 
way, too, and you can just get some might potion to break the glass in A4 for 
a pyramid key and then plow through the endgame without really seeing 
anything much. Maybe you can establish a new minimum score along the way, 
especially if you cheat your characters way down near the end :).

  10. WEIRD BUGS

  If you put money in the bank and go train, you won't get interest. In 
general interest only seems to register if the day changes as you are walking 
around. Which is a bit of a ripoff.

  You can shoot when the monsters are in melee range and the arrows go behind 
them--you'd think it would be point blank.

  Sometimes you have to twirl around to different orientations to "see" a 
town you want to enter.

  You can fire a spell at enemies behind a mountain and it will hit them.

  I've managed to climb a mountain in the Lava Isle area. But I could not get 
back on.

  Not really a bug but you can map at 2b2e/2b2f to (x,y) of the current 
sector you're in and move around. If you go into a wall you can bash your way 
out of it.
end of FAQ proper

================================

  11. VERSIONS

1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs 11/29/2004. I feel like this should mostly be 
complete, but I may play through the game and look at details that bug me. 
Might add more text maps. Dunno how useful they are. 
0.2.5 sent to GameFAQs 11/12/2004, with a few dungeons done not walked-
through on Macc Maverick's site yet. Text maps coming soon. Maybe.
0.2.0 sent to GameFAQs 11/9/2004 through the beginning(up to level 17.)
0.1.0 sent to GameFAQs 11/8/2004, very basic stuff.

  12. CREDITS

Thanks to GameFAQs for being, well, THERE.
Thanks to Macc Maverick, the maintainer of the RPGClassics shrine for this 
game.
Thanks to Lee Beng Hai for his fine original walkthrough of the game sent to 
GameFAQs which, along with the above link, helped me through the game. I just 
wanted to detail things. He certainly didn't have my resources for checking 
things or the convenience of Windows, and he gives a strong overview with 
important details, so his work is to be commended. 
Thanks to the DOSBox folks at DOSBox.sourceforge.net for letting me type in a 
window and play the game at the same time.
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should, 
too, because they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, 
daremo, falsehead, RetroFreak, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, and others 
I forgot. 
