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= THE KEEP =
* 3DS VERSION *
* FULL WALKTHROUGH *
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Author: Sashanan
Date: 15 December 2019
Version: 1.0
DISCLAIMER
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2019. All rights
reserved.
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===============================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============================================================================
[1] Introduction
[2] Walkthrough (Chapter 1 through 10)
[3] Spells
[4] Revision history
===============================================================================
[1] INTRODUCTION
===============================================================================
The Keep is an indie first person dungeon crawler RPP developed by Cinemax and
released in 2014. It is available on several platforms. This guide is based on
the 3DS version ver 1.1.0. The game is played in a first person view, and
controlled with the circle pad
and the stylus. This guide will get you through all ten chapters, each time
finding all
secrets, killing all enemies and rescuing all children.
===============================================================================
[2] WALKTHROUGH
==============================================================================
-------------------------------------------
Chapter 1 (1 secret, 0 enemies, 0 children)
-------------------------------------------
This short stage has no enemies to slay nor children to rescue. There is one
secret, though the item you gain is permanently lost at the end of the chapter
along with everything else you may be carrying.
If you check your status, you'll notice you already have 3 stat points to
allocate between strength, dexterity and intelligence. I personally prefer to
lean toward intelligence, while not ignoring the other two, but it's up to you.
Your path in this chapter is linear, west to east. The first gate is opened by a
lever on the north wall next to it. The stairs down lead essentially nowhere,
just a short corridor you end up in if you should fall through the trapdoor.
This can only happen if you remove the rock from the pressure plate on the other
side of it. You could take this rock along, but there is no need to, as it will
be taken from you at the end of the chapter anyway. Second trapdoor is the same
deal: it's already held closed by a rock on the pressure plate, which you should
leave there so you can cross.
Directly after the second trapdoor, there is a torch on the wall. You can pick
this up to light your way, also equip it as a weapon, though you won't get to
use it. The next room has several pits with spikes at the bottom. Stepping into
such a pit is instant death and game over. There are two torches on pressure
plates, that should be left there so you can cross the closed the trapdoor
between the spike pits, and go through the gate in the east wall.
The next room wih a fireplace in the middle ends in two closed gates, and levers
on either side. The two levers open the two gates, but they don't stay open, so
you need to pull both levers and promptly walk through. If you manage to get
caught between the two gates, there is a lever on the left that will let you
escape and try again.
Next up, the gates to the left can't be opened, the gate to the right can be, by
using a silver key on the silver lock. The key is sitting...right in front of
it. Not the most challenging puzzle you will be seeing. Another torch can be
collected on the other side. Further east is another room, this one with a
fountain that holds the only secret in this chapter. A magic crystal can be
taken from the fountain. Unfortunately, it too will be lost when this chapter
ends, which is soon.
Stepping on the pressure plate will alternately open and close the gate, so just
step on it once (closing the gate), step back, and step on it a second time so
that the gate is open. Then proceed further to the east. Leave the items on the
pressure plates alone, as one is preventing a deadly bolt trap from firing.
After entering the next room, gates lock around you and Watrys, the evil
sorcerer, appears to taunt you before tossing you into prison, which starts
chapter 2. This time only, the chapter switch takes away all your items. You
also get no "stage clear" overview at the end of secrets found, enemies slain
and children rescued - but the one secret is the crystal in the fountain, and no
enemies or children were around this time.
So essentially what puzzles this stage had, have pretty much already been done
for you as you arrive - this does not depend on difficulty level, either. It's
just warmup, it'll get harder.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 2 (2 secrets, 17 enemies, 0 children)
---------------------------------------------
First order of business is to get out of your cell. The bars in the southwest
corner of the room are bent and can be destroyed by attacking them (barehanded,
no less). Attacks are done by going to the fight screen and dragging the stylus
horizontally across the top, middle or bottom row, or diagonally from any corner
to the opposite one. It doesn't matter now, but for some enemies you want to aim
low (like rats, as other attacks pass over them) or high, to hit the heads of
humanoid enemies for best results.
Exit the cell, and on the wall to the right you'll find a torch almost
immediately. Pick that up and equip it as a weapon. It doubles as a light
source, so you'll see more. As you go around the corner, a guard will also be
visible and he'll engage you. With the torch you can kill him, but if you're
unlucky, he might not go down so easily and you may run out of stamina before
he's gone. Stepping back lets you draw out the battle and recharge stamina, and
fleeing all the way back into your cell lets you do even better: holding the
left trigger down, you can sidestep left to right with the circle pad between
your attacks. This way, you can force the guard into a pattern where he does
nothing but walk up to you and doesn't get to attack, while you hit him once
whenever he gets back into contact, spending no more stamina than you gain, and
slowly whittle him down. This is a technique you want to learn, as it will come
in handy many times.
When the guard falls (1), he drops an iron key that you need, and a stamina
potion that you should pick up and place in your inventory quickbar. This is a
good item to keep around, so you can drag it over your portrait if you need to
use it during combat. Up to 9 potions can be stacked in a single slot. If you
get even more, great, you can put those in the lower rows of your inventory. It
may also be a sign that, just like a typical RPG player, you hoard them too
much. :P
Outside the cell is a lever with which the door can be opened, not that it needs
to be anymore, and an exit door with an iron lock, which the guard's key will
unlock. a corridor then leads to a crossroads. Go north first. In there is a
single jail cell that contains only a rat, and to the left a small stone that
you should collect, these are useful for throwing on pressure plates. Use the
lever to open the cell and kill the rat (2). The sign in the jail simply reads
"Freedom" and has no further signifance. Return to the crossroads.
Take the east passage this time. Behind the door (opened with the lever on the
left side) is one more rat (3), a jail cell with another lever, and inside
you'll find a healing potion and a torch. The healing potion should go to your
inventory quickbar. Pick up the torch if you like. It doesn't burn up while it's
in your inventory, and can replace the old one if it does burn up. You'll get a
light source out of your magic later, so torches aren't that important to hoard.
When you are done here, return to the crossroads.
Finally go south here to a closed gate, a button and a sign that says the button
will call the guard. It does just that: press it, and the guard will open the
door and fight you. Kill him (4), stepping back if you need to draw out the
battle to regain stamina. The guard drops a rusty dagger, a better weapon than
your torch, so equip it. You can put a torch in your left hand if you want to
still have a light source. Through the door this guard came from is another
crossroads, with paths marked by signs reading Exit, Reception and Warehouse.
The Exit path requires a silver key, and the warehouse is blocked off by a
closed gate, so first go to the reception area to the west.
From the reception area, two corridors lead west. The southern one spots quickly
at a wall, but this wall hides a secret passage. Press the small rectangular
brick on its left side, and a passage opens that holds a rune of Fire and a
scroll with the Light spell (secret 1). That spell actually requires two Fire
runes, so you can't do anything with it just yet.
The northern passage to the west stops at a gate and a lever next to it which
will open the gate. Beyond that is a larger room - don't enter yet. There are
two guards, in there, one will see you and come out to fight you, the other will
only be activated when you enter. You want the kill the first (5) before you do,
to avoid the possibility of having to fight both together.
The second guard (6) drops a silver key. On the wall in this room is a sign
reading "Return the exit key", hinting where this key goes: you'll need for the
Exit passage later. Don't rush there yet though, there's a lot more to do in
this chapter that you don't want to miss. Namely, the Warehouse, which another
sign warns has been infested with rats. In the southeast corner on the east wall
is a chest that holds a second Rune of Fire and a Rune of Levitation. On the
desk is a scroll of Fireball, which states that you need three runes to cast the
spell. Behind the desk is a Rune of Injury. You now have all the runes together
to be able to cast Light (two Fire runes) and Fireball (Levitation, Fire and
Injury in that order). I'd put the three for Fireball in the top row of the
spell grid and the second Fire rune just below the first one, so that you have
both spell combinations available.
Now, the Fireball is an alternative to engaging enemies up close, which does
decent damage, but enemies may block it. Light, meanwhile, means you no longer
need torches, as it provides the same light. It does need recasting every so
often. You can ignore torches from here on, or keep them around to put on
pressure plates. This is never necessary though, each chapter yields enough
items to use on all plates without having to take any along from previous
chapters.
Finally, on the far north wall of this room is a chain you should pull. Then
return to the crossroads and head south, past the Warehouse sign. This passage
ends at a gate normally, but the chain in the reception area opens this one up.
Head down the stairs behind the gate to get to floor 2, still in the same
chapter. A crossroads soon comes up, with one of the promised rats at the north
passage (7), and sacks which can also be opened by attacking them with a swipe,
along both the north and south passages. In the three sacks, you'll find two
minor healing potions and one minor mana potion for your quickbar, and a pair of
Soldier's Boots that gives 2 armor and should be equipped.
Return to the crossroads and head east, using the lever to open the gate. The
room behind has four rats (8-11) and these tend to attack two at a time, so let
them come to you and back up as necessary to avoid being hit too much. Stamina
potions may be a good bet here too, as you'll likely run out of stamina swiping
at all of them. Along the north wall of the room is a closed gate with two
pressure plates in front of it, and a sign saying the gate opens automatically
for "large cargo deliveries". You'll be able to take advantage of that in a
moment. Head through the east passage for now. The room behind it has one more
rat to kill (12). Also, there are six large stones in this room which you should
take (they all stack in one inventory slot). On the far wall are several items
behind grates, and those can be opened by pulling the levers on the side walls.
From the grates, you collect a rune of Heart, a rune of Concentration, and a
scroll of Healing that explains the spell behind these runes. Put the two runes
next to each other on your spell grid, and you can now heal by dragging across
them in order Heart -> Concentration. You don't actually need to hang on to the
scroll, it's just a reminder. The spell works without it also.
Back up one room, to the north passage with the pressure plates, and put two
large stones on each of the plates. This is enough to press them down and cause
the gate to open. Behind it is one more rat to kill (13), and two crates to
slash. Inside are another minor mana potion and a pair of Soldier's Pants, which
should be equipped for +3 to your armor. Leave, taking the large stones on the
pressure plates with you, they'll be handy for weighing down future pressure
plates.
The final area from the crossroads, Exit, awaits. Use the silver key you got
from the second guard in the reception area. Beyond is a room with another
silver lock to the east, and a passage to the north labelled "Cpt. Drake's
office". He's a tough fight, so definitely save first. The lever opens the door
and will cause him to come out to taunt and then fight you. You can't go toe to
toe with him, so back up, pelting him with Fireballs. He may black some, but
some should get through. Use melee only to finish him off (14). He drops the
silver key you need, and a Necklace of Strength which you should equip for +2
Strength.
In Drake's room, there's a minor mana potion on his desk, and a hidden button on
the east wall next to the desk that reveals a Crystal just north of it on the
same east wall (secret 2). Finally there is an iron key in a closet on the west
wall that opens the door at the back of the room. That door leads to the armory,
with a minor healing potion (press the button on the left wall to access it),
and a chest with Soldier's Armor, which you should equip for +6 armor. With
Drake's key, you can return to the room to the south and open the silver lock,
then proceed east. A guard here will sound the alarm and permanently close the
passage leading up, forcing you to kill him (15) and head down instead (south
wall). However, the two guards walking back and forth behind the gate can be
sniped with Fireballs, and to get kills 16 and 17 for this floor, you should.
Together with walking up to the level exit, it should also get you enough
experience for a level up if you haven't gotten it yet. Each one gives 3 more
stat points to distribute as desired.
For the Crystal: these can be put on the spell grid, to be used at the end of a
spell to power it up further. For instance, a Fireball is more potent with a
Crystal put at the end of it. The effect is especially strong against magic
using enemies, but it'll help against anybody. The downside is the Crystal will
be used up, so you might want to use them sparingly (that said, there are some
30 to be found in the entire game, so hoarding them is largely unnecessary).
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 3 (5 secrets, 14 enemies, 3 children)
---------------------------------------------
Head south from where you start into a larger room, with the middle blocked of
by metal grating and in the southwest corner, a single guard to fight. He should
be no real issue with either magic or your weapon, especially if you lead him
around the room (1). Although you can never enter the space behind the metal
gratins, you *can* see a pit in there, and tossing any item through the bars and
into that pit opens a secret door in the northeast corner (secret 1). You can
use the stone or either of the two torches in this room for that. Behind the
secret door is a room with one minor healing potions and a scroll of
Transmutation, a spell that uses Runes of Heart, Mana and Injury. You'll have
two of those by now, but not Mana yet. The spell lets you give up some health
for some mana, potentially of use, but not vital. The south door in the large
room is locked with a gold lock. As the sign "Lower Dungeons" next to it
promises, this is the exit to the next floor, and so you won't get the key until
the end. You can head either west or east from the large room. May as well go
west first.
You are quickly blocked off by metal gates in the next room. You can see a guard
patrolling beyond the closed gate to the west, and certainly certainly cast
fireballs to snipe at him safely before you open up the way (2). Beyond the
north gate you can see a rune, we'll get to that in a bit. To the south is both
a pressure plate and another metal gate. The pressure plate opens that south
gate, but closes a second gate to the west. The way through is to weigh down
that pressure plate with a torch or stone, go through the south gate to pull a
lever (which opens the original west gate), then retrieve your item from the
pressure plate to open the gate behind it again too. Then the way west will be
open and you can proceed there.
On the floor where you sniped the guard - or if you chose not to, after you
fight him - will be an iron key that he has dropped, bring that along. There is
a crossroads here, go north first into a seeming dead end, but turn to the west
wall and see a triangular rock in it near the top right is off color. Press it
to open a secret door to the east (secret 2). This leads into the passage behind
the grate where you saw a rune earlier, you can now take it along. It is a Rune
of Mana, the missing piece if you want to form the Transmutation spell (trade
some HP for MP). I never really used this one. Return to the crossroads and find
the south passage is a true dead end with nothing to find, so head west. You get
to a small square room with the north passage blocked off by a gate with a
silver lock. Your iron key won't fit here, so you can't get through here yet.
The west gate can be opened up with the lever next to it, head there first.
You will find a pit off the path to the north, do *not* drop in there. You'll be
facing a large spider that you probably can't go toe to spider leg with, as he
strikes very quickly. Instead, head further west and go down the stairs to floor
2. Follow the corridor into a small room with metal bars to the north and three
chests to the south. The first two chests open effortlessly, the first to a
torch, the second to a minor mana potion and a stamina potion. The third chest
is locked, and this is where the iron key the guard dropped earlier comes in.
Unlock the chest with that, and retrieve both a Rune of Frost and a scroll of
Frost Bolt, explaining how you can put that rune to use right away. Levitation -
Frost - Injury will do the trick, same as with Fireball except putting Frost in
place of Fire. Its cooldown is a second shorter, and thus Frost Bolts can follow
each other up a little quicker than Fireballs. Either way, now turn your
attention to the metal gates - behind there is the area the pit would have
dropped you in, and you can see the large spider running around and are able to
safely take him out with either Fireball or Frost Bolt (3). I do find Frost Bolt
more effective against these critters, but you can experiment safely with this
one.
When he is dead, head back up the stairs and now *do* deliberately fall into the
pit to end up of the other side of the metal bars, safely now that the spider is
dead. You land on a pressure plate that opens a gate that lets you out of here
to the other side of the bars, and you should drop an item on it to keep it
open. Also, in the southwest corner, right next to the spider web, lies a Silver
Ring on the ground that you can equip to gain some protection against acid
damage. Go up the stairs again and back to the square room, where the south
passage is still unexplored. Head down there now. There are two guards here to
fight and they come together, so use your magic, your sword, your nimble feet to
back up, whatever it takes to take them down (4, 5). One of them drops a silver
key. The two levers in the north wall open the two gates in the south wall,
leading to another square room with six levers, three on each of the west and
east walls, and several signs reading "Ask the guard for the security code".
Unfortunate that you just killed the guards. Leave these levers be for now, go
back north and then down the east passage.
The next room as three crates in it that you can bust open with weapon or magic,
to get a minor mana potion and two pieces of equipment: a buckler (+2 armor) and
a helmet (+2 armor). As an aside, the buckler's description actually says
"reduces damage by 2" rather than mention the armor stat, but you'll see it
raising your armor by 2 anyway. I'm pretty sure that's exactly how the armor
stat works to begin with. A notice on the wall reminds the guard not to give the
security code to unauthorized personnel. You've got to hand it to that pair -
they died without giving it to you. But they did give up that silver key, so
head back north. The silver key opens the gate. Behind it are two pressure
plates and behind that, a spike pit that's instant death to step in. The
pressure plates both do the same thing, switching the pit between open and
closed. There is no need to weigh down the pressure plates; the solution is to
step on the first plate and step back, with the pit now closed and both pressure
plates between you and it. Step on the first again to open it, on the second to
close it, then safely step on the pit's covering. In the room beyond, do treat
carefully, there is one more spike pit at the end, and running into it would be
both unfortunate and fatal. On either side of the pit are captured children.
Walk up to them to free them (children 1 and 2), getting bonus exp for both. One
tells you there is also their brother left to rescue, and he hides "where the
spiders are".
You are done in the west section of the dungeon, head all the way back to the
entrance, where the east passage is still unexplored. Head there now. A small
room there, holding one stone, has a sign warning of dangerous creatures ahead,
and the easy passage is blocked off with wooden bars. You can cut those down
with your weapon or a Fireball (they're actually immune to the Frost Bolt).
Further in you'll notice spider webs on walls, rarely a good sign. There are
spiders here, small ones you can fight or use magic on. The first attacks from
the left as you enter a crossroads, so kill him (6). The east passage has a pit
trap, leave that for now and take the north passage to a small room. Kill
another spider in there (7), and collect a stamina potion and a Golden Sword.
The Golden Sword does 11-18 damage for 18 stamina, to 9-11 damage for 14 stamina
from the Rusty Dagger, meaning both more damage output and slightly better
efficiency per stamina point, so replace your dagger with this. The Rusty Dagger
can be discarded.
Head back to the crossroads and go south this time. Exploring it fully, you'll
find there are a total of three passages to the east all blocked off by a pit
trap. (Stepping into any of them drops you down to floor 3, which is just an
empty corridor with stairs back up. The stairs lead to a cramped dead end, but
on the north enid is a button that opens it up and lets you return to the main
corridor.) There is also a small room to the west with chains to pull, but more
to the point, a secret door if you head all the way to the south and look at the
east wall. There is another discolored triangular tile to push and open a
passage to the west (secret 3). This short passage holds a wall button that
opens up another passage to the south, being considered secret 4. Beyond there
is the child Nathaniel, who offers up a note explaining the security combination
for the six levers found earlier. Essentially you got two secrets for the price
of one here - and you kind of needed that security combination, as brute forcing
those levers would have taken a while. One could wonder how Nathaniel *got* to
where he was when the passage was blocked by wooden bars, but we'll just forget
that we noticed that.
We're not quite done here, as the pit traps blocking the east passages can be
easily solved also. Go to the small room off to the west of this corridor with
the three chains, and pull each chain. Each one closes one of the pit traps.
Behind each pit trap is a spider to kill (8-10). The corridor behind the two
outer passages connect, but at another pit trap leading to the floor 3 corridor.
To close this trap, head down the middle passage over the pit trap you closed
with the center chain, walk up to the metal bars and toss an item through to
weigh down the pressure plate just behind it. That closes the pit that blocked
you from going further east from either of the other passages. Go down either
now, and east to stairs leading down to a new section of floor 2.
A set of twisting corridors eventually leads to a larger room, around which are
three small spiders (11-13) and in the southeast, one large one (14). The large
spiders are dangerous, but you have plenty of room to back up as needed. Frost
Bolts are pretty effective also. If all else fails, you can retreat back to the
stairs. The spider cannot heal, and so it's perfectly possible to flee up there
(he can't follow), heal up, and go back down to resume combat with your still
injured foe. I won't tell if you won't. This was your last enemy in this
chapter. You should no longer hear the squeaking of the spiders now, either. All
the way to the west, behind bars that can simply be walked around to the south,
is a scroll of Freeze. This spell freezes an enemy in place for 6 seconds and
deals some minor cold damage, but you can't do it right now, as the necessary
runes are Frost - Time - Frost - Injury, meaning you are two runes short.
You'll find a stamina potion in a small niche in the south of the room, where
one of the small spiders came from, and in the southeast (where the large spider
was) is a chest containing a Time rune, leaving you still one Frost rune short
for the Freeze spell. Finally there is one more secret. Directly south of the
entrance stairs on the north wall of the corridor, is another discolored
triangular tile that will open up a passage directly south (secret 5). In there
are a minor mana potion and a magic crystal.
There is nothing else down there. Head back up, to the entrance room and west
again, all the way to the guard room with the six levers that Nathaniel got you
the combination to, now. That combination is, for the east wall (counting from
north to south), down down up, and for the west wall, up up down. The right
combination opens up a compartment in the middle of the south wall, holding the
gold key you've been needing all this time. Head back to the entrance of the
level, finally able to open the gold locked door in the south wall. Right behind
there is the level exit. You should be level 4 at this stage.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 4 (3 secrets, 19 enemies, 2 children)
---------------------------------------------
Couple of nasty traps in this chapter, and a point of no return. Follow the
corridor east at the start, picking up a stone along the way, until your way is
barred by metal bars and a pressure plate just behind them. Throw the stone
through the bars onto the plate. The gate is raised so you can continue on. You
can collect the stone again if you like, you never need to return those few
steps.
Around the corner is an iron locked gate, and to the north, more metal bars with
two pressure plates in front. Whenever a plate is either weighed down or the
weight is released, the gate switches between opened and closed. The way through
is to weigh down the first plate with a stone, then step on the second plate.
With both thusly weighed down, you can continue once again. If you've gotten
yourself in the situation where doing so is exactly what caused the gate to be
closed in your face when you step on the second plate, at that point turn around
and remove the stone from the first plate, and *that* will open the gate. Either
way, you can get through and you may or may not have to leave a stone (or a
torch) behind, though you get to retrieve that soon enough.
You end up in a small room with a lever on the north wall, but first move to the
top east corner and look east, to see a telltale triangular oddly colored tile.
Touch that to open a nearby secret compartment that holds your first moderate
healing potion (secret 1), which heals more damage than the minor healing
potions did (35 to their 20). At this point you probably want that in your quick
bar and move whatever minor healing potions you have left downward in your bag.
The veteran RPG player will recognize this as the point where you keep them
around "just in case", while knowing you will probably never use them again.
This having been done, push the lever to its upward position. This will open a
passage south from the corridor you entered this room from. (In passing, you can
pick up any items you left on the pressure plates.) South of here, you will now
find a spike pit and pressure plates on either side. These plates close a
trapdoor over the pit, however, they work on a slight delay. Step on the plate,
hold still for a second until you see the trapdoor close over the pit and *then*
cross it. And quickly, because after that same second's delay, the pit opens up
again, under your feet if you happen to be on the trapdoor. Being too slow here
equals instant spiky death.
Past this trap, the passage to the east is blocked by metal bars, so take the
only alternative, going west. Here is a set of two metal bar gates and four
pressure plates. The thing here is any pressure plate will alternate gates
between opened and closed, but these plates only respond to you stepping on
them, they cannot be weighed down with items. I find a good way to get through
here is to step on the first center plate, step back, then move forward over the
two center plates and ignore the two outer plates completely.
Beyond these two gates a bat will attack, kill it with melee or spell attacks
(1). It's not very dangerous on its own. Beyond is a small room with two alcoves
in the wall holding an iron key and a Hammer. You've seen the lock for that key,
you will get back there shortly. The Hammer, with 12-40 damage per 25 stamina,
averages more damage per stamina than the Golden Sword did, so it is worth
exchanging it for.
For now, beyond this room is another set of two metal gates and pressure plates,
but the plate in front of the first gate opens only the second. Toss an item
through the first gate to weigh down the pressure plate between the two gates.
That will open the first gate. Step through yourself, and the second gate closes
in front of you again, now that the first pressure plate is no longer weighed
down. Turn around and put an item on that plate also, and now both gates will be
open. This having been done, continue onward to a metal gate and a lever next to
it that opens it. You've now looped around back to the spike pit with the
delayed pressure plates. Cross over again (step on the plate, wait for the
trapdoor to close, tnen hurry over before it opens under your feet again) and
use the iron key on the iron lock to the east. This opens a new passage. A guard
on the other side will attack immediately, but should be easy pickings (2). It's
up to you whether to use magic, or if it's hammer time. (Sorry.)
Moving on, a passage on your right leads south to a chest containing a stamina
potion and a minor healing potion, and stairs down to a small floor 2 area that
leads nowhere, but is meant to catch you if you slip on a trapdoor puzzle a
little later on. There is, however, a minor mana potion to collect down there.
Going east, there are four trapdoors in a row that open and close in a set
pattern. The idea is to wait until the one just ahead of you closes, then step
on and move forward over all four. There is, however, a bat here that will
almost certainly block you and cause you to fall down to the floor 2 area. Your
best bet is to stand in front of the trapdoors and use ranged magic to take out
the bat (which you may not be able to hit until you've tried and failed to go
through at least once), or at least tick it off enough to come flying to melee
range where you can kill it (3). With the bat gone, the trapdoors can be
crossed.
Moving on, there is a crossroads. To the south is a door with a silver lock. The
north and east passages both lead to a large room with lots of trapdoors opening
and closing relentlessly. If you do fall into one, you come into another floor 2
area, where roam two bats to be killed (4, 5) and there is a teleporter on the
west end that will bring you back in front of the trapdoors on floor 1. Hovering
over those trapdoors are two more bats that you can probably coax into a fair
fight by stepping onto the nearest trapdoor when it is closed and immediately
back to solid ground again. It's worth it to spend a little time to kill these
two pests, so you can navigate the trapdoors without being distracted by them
(6, 7).
As to the trapdoor maze, the way to do it is to take the north passage to the
north end of the room. Wait in front of the first trapdoor for it to close in
front of you, then dash forward without stopping until you hit the south wall,
and solid ground. You will actually be at a set of metal bars and you can just
see the silver key you need beyond, but you can't reach it yet. Face west and
you can *just* see a wall tile you have to press to open a secret here, beyond
the trap doors. It is one space north and two spaces west from here, on the west
wall, but beyond two trapdoors and so a little tricky to get to. To make the
attempt, advanced once space west, facing west, use a side step (hold down L and
step right) to get on the trapdoor, move one forward and quickly tap the button
on the wall before the trapdoor under you opens and dumps you down. This opens a
passage to your left (south) that you can step into (secret 2). It may take a
few tries, honestly. Inside the secret room is a scroll of Burning. You don't
*need* to have the scroll to be able to cast the spell, just the runes. So if it
frustrates you too much, the combination is Fire - Extension - Injury, and you
don't have Extension yet anyway.
Get yourself back to the south wall gate with the silver key behind it (this
most likely involves falling into one of the trapdoors and taking the north
passage into the big room again). This time, go along the wall to the southeast
corner, facing north. Wait for the trapdoor in front of you to close, step
north, step north a second time, then east (either turn there, or sidestep it,
there's plenty of time for either). You will now be at the east wall and once
again on solid ground. On the middle of the east wall is a l ever that opens the
gate blocking access to the silver key. Get back there (kudos if you do so
without falling to the lower floor yet again, it usually happens for me), get
the key, and finally get back to the silver lock just west of this trapdoor
room.
Use the silver key to unlock the door - and find there are two guards right
behind it that will attack you together. You may have to back off to draw this
battle out if you don't ger lucky with early spells or melee attacks, and you
may even allow yourself to drop through the trap doors back to floor 2. One or
both of the guards may potentially follow you down there, but at least you'll
have plenty of room to run circles around them and take them out (8, 9). Proceed
through the corridor behind the silver lock, and take the stairs down to floor
3.
Down here, the immediate way east is blocked by metal bars. South, you'll notice
a lone guard approaching from the east passage, kill him (10) and get his iron
key. On the west end is a jaiol area with two captured children. The iron key
will set them free (children 1 and 2, which is all of them for this floor). One
of the children will give you a scroll containing two bits of knowledge about
crystals: first, that you can use them on yourself to heal (by dragging them
over your portrait), second, that a spell powered up with a crystal is
especially effective against mages, advice that will come in (very) handy later
for such encounters.
From the cells, head straight east into the room the lone guard came from. There
are two levers on the east wall here. The one in the southeast opens the gate
right next to it, to a small room containing one bat to kill (11), as well as
Runes of Levitation and Lightning. You now have the runes to cast Lightning
Strike, a spell you haven't been taught yet, so obviously there is no way for
you to know that the combination Levitation - Lightning - Levitation will cast
that very spell. :P
In the previous room, the lever in the northeast opens metal barsage directly
east from the stairs that led you to this floor, however, save before you enter
there, as a tricky sequence is coming up. The moment you step beyond the bars
(you'll notice more bars to your left, on the north wall), the gate closes
behind you. and ice bolts start shooting at you from the north through those
bars. A mere three hits are going to kill you, and they shoot 12 times in
succession. What you want to do here is face north, and be ready to strafe
(holding L and moving left and right). The best way to do this is to step
inside, have the gate close behind you, turn left immediately and hold down L.
Now wait until you hear and see ice missiles come at you, and strafe right. Hold
in place until you see more missiles coming at you, and strafe left again. Then
repeat, right, left, and so forth until you've dodged missiles 12 times, at
which point they will stop. It may take a few tries, as it's very tempting to
move too early.
When the 12 volleys are over, you need to move quickly east, because after a few
seconds a gate will close there too, potentially trapping you forever. Move east
until you hit the wall and the passage turns south. You are safe now, so save
your game here. When the gate closes behind you, that's permanent - no way to go
except forward, to the south in this case.
Ignore the passage east for now and go south as far as you can. There is a
promising passage to the west with goodies on the floor, but trying to approach
them causes a wall to close right in front of you. To deal with this, go south
one more space and check the east wall. There is another triangular tile here to
press, although this one is in the "pressed" state rather than the unpressed
state and looks dark. It's still in the top east of the wall as usual though.
Press it, and you can now get to the items without the wall closing on you
(secret 3, the final one for this floor).
Collect the items in the secret passage. Here you'll get the scroll of Lightning
Strike, which explains how to make that spell from Levitation - Lightning -
Levitation. Behind it are a moderate mana potion, and a Frost rune, your second.
You now have the runes together to be able to cast Freeze. There is a powerful
combo here, as an enemy frozen in place with Freeze will take 75% extra damage
from Lightning Strike. You can lay both spells on your spell grid, and still
keep Levitation - Frost - Injury open also for Frost Bolt, so that you have both
ice and lightning damage handy without having to change your spell grid. At this
point, if you consider the tiles numbered as such:
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
I have Levitation runes on 8 and 10, Lightning between them on 9, Frost below
the Levitation runes on 13 and 15, Time in between them on 14, and finally
Injury on the bottom row at 18. This permits casting Freeze from right to left
and around the corner using 15-14-13-18, Lightning Strike from 8-9-10, or Frost
Bolt vertically from 8-13-18. I keep two Fire runes at 2-7 to cast Light with
and have Heart and Concentration runes on 11-12 for Healing. To do this, I did
have to break up Fireball.
Anyway. the pasage to the east is still unexplored, but you will find ice
missiles shoot regularly from south to north. Your way through this trap is to
wait for missiles to pass by, then quickly step forward, turn left, dash two
spaces forward and then turn right and take one more step to be out of the line
of fire. By strafing, you can speed this up enough to avoid damage. Otherwise,
you won't be dead unless you get hit three times before you can get to safety
and heal up.
A second north-south passage stands before you, with once again ice missiles
shooting from south to north. Again, wait for missiles to pass by, step into the
passage, go one space south and immediately east out of the line of fire again.
You'll enjoy the third one, because this time, missiles shoot BOTH from south to
north and north to south. It's hard to fully avoid injury here, but let them
pass by, head into the passage, one space north and immediately east, most
likely taking one hit in the process, but you can weather that. You're at a dead
end with a button. Push that and the south to north launcher stops, so you only
have ice missiles going from north to south. Wait for one to pass by and follow
it quickly to the south, to the end, then go around the corner to the east to be
out of the line of fire again. Whew.
The 3x3 room you end up in has a gate with a gold lock at the south, stairs down
to the east, and a room with a sign identifying it as the Training room to the
west. We'll start there, but save first. Use the lever to open the gate to the
Training room. Then dash inside without stopping, all the way to the west. Gates
open and a total of 8 bats come at you, but do not stop. If you go all the way
west without stopping, no bat will have time to get in your way, and at the very
west end you'll find an alcove with a lever at the end. Pull that lever and turn
around. Ice missiles shoot through the room, you're safe in the alcove, but the
8 bats very much aren't. The missiles will kill them all (and you'll get
experience all the same!), making this a much easier way to clear these eight
foes than attempting to kill them yourself. Either way, this takes you from 11
to 19 kills, which is everybody on this floor. And since you already saved both
children and unlocked all 3 secrets, all that's left is to finish up. Hit the
lever again to stop the ice missiles, then exit the alcove and go one space
south. A niche in the wall holds the gold key you need. Return to the 3x3 room.
You can exit now, but there's one more area to get some loot from. Go directly
east and take the stairs down now. You'll be in a room with three spike pits and
pressure plates on both sides of each pit. Weigh down the 3 on your side with
items to close the 3 spike pits. The plates on the opposite side react only to
you stepping on them and can't be weighed down with items. You want to step on
each plate *once* to open three metal gates to the north. Do so, then step into
the room behind them. In three niches, you'll find a stamina potion for your
collection, a pair of Boots of Dexterity (the same +2 armor as your Soldier's
Boots as well as +2 to Dexterity, so strictly better), and a suit of Golden
Armor (+9 armor to the +6 on your Soldier's Armor, so again a no brainer to
upgrade to). When you have these, you're done with this chapter. Head back up
the stairs, unlock the south gate with your gold key, and head down the stairs
to chapter 5. You should be level 5 at this point.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 5 (4 secrets, 18 enemies, 0 children)
---------------------------------------------
Among your enemies on this level are ghosts, who think nothing of moving through
walls and attacking from them. You may have to draw them out some for a fair
fight. Weapons and magic can both work, however.
You'll start just north of a small room with signs saying Ghost labyrinth, Watch
your back, and Exterminators welcomed. In the middle is a space blocked off by
metal bars. This actually leads to the level exit, it will be a while before you
head there. There are two golden locks on either side of this small space, and
both need a golden key. In the south is a teleporter that seems pointless: it
leads to a very small room two spaces to the south, but a second later you are
teleported back to the main room. The trick here is to turn your back on the
teleporter, facing north, then step back into it. You will now notice that the
room you are temporarily warped to has a lever on the north wall. What you're
supposed to do is walk into the teleporter, then quickly move the lever to its
upward positio before you are warped out again. With that done, back in the main
room, you will notice the alcoves in the west and east parts of the room now
also have teleporters. These two lead to two halves of the chapter. Take the
east teleporter, first.
You will get to a corridor leading north, but you'll also hear the noise of
nearby enemies. There are two dwarven ghosts here which will come attacking from
the east wall. Walk up to the first passage leading east, and move around a bit
here, until you see the first ghost attacking you, and the second following soon
after. You want to take care of them, and I find a great way to do it is to hit
them with Freeze, followed up by Lightning Strike while they are frozen. This
may be enough to kill one, but you can finish it up with a melee strike if
necessary. It'd be nice to get one down quickly and not have to weather attacks
from both. Proceed with exploring your surroundings when they are properly dead
(1, 2).
Thie first passage east is blocked by metal bars, but a lever on your left
(north side) will open it. Behind is a larger room, where the two ghosts came
from in fact. In the southwest corner is a chest containing an Iron Sword. At
20-26 damage per 20 stamina, it is modestly more efficient in terms of damage
per stamina, so I would upgrade to this. Thiere is a moderate mana potion on the
floor nearer to the center of the room, and a moderate healing potion in the
northwest corner. Finally in an alcove on the north wall is a Scroll of Stun, a
spell that uses Time - Ice - Injury runes to immobilize a target for 7 seconds.
Since Freeze does the same thing but also adds some damage and a vulnerability
to lightning magic, I find this one a bit redundant, but you have the runes
already if you want to use it.
Back in the corridor, follow it north until it bends to the east. it'll soon hit
a teleporter that nudges you forward some and turns you around, but turn back
eastward and you can continue. Another dwarven ghost also attacks you around
this spot, but thankfully he is alone and Freeze + Lightning Strike gets the job
done (3). Ignore the passage leading south for now and enter a small room on the
east end, with a fourth dwarven ghost who can be dealt with just like the others
(4). Alcoves on the west wall of the room hold minor potions of healing and
mana.
In the northeast corner are metal bars and a teleporter visible behind them. A
sign next to this area reads "a bit of mana will open the way". This is to be
taken literally: toss any mana potion (such as the one in this room) through the
bars into the teleporter. This causes another teleporter to become active two
steps to the south, in the southeast corner of the room. Step through it, your
first secret of the chapter (secret 1). A chest in this treasure room will
contain two stamina potions and a magic crystal. Those, as you may remember,
either heal you to full health if used on your portrait (not an efficient use as
there are healing potions for that), or power up a spell if put on the spell
grid and used to follow up the casting of any spell. It's especially worth it
against magic wielding enemies, as their usual magic resistance is negated by a
spell using a crystal. It's worth keeping a few around for that purpose, but
don't feel obligated not to use them at all otherwise, as there are plenty in
the game.
When you're done here, take the teleporter back to the main room, head back west
into the corridor and almost immediately turn south for the passage I had you
ignore the first time. This short passage ends in a teleporter that puts you in
a room slightly further south, with many more teleporters that will have you
jump around the room. You want to get to the exit in the south wall, for which
you should move south into two teleporters to get teleported to the southwest
corner, then east into a third teleporter, and finally south into a fourth. Then
the passage out of the room is right before you, so head south- right after you
fight a ghost that will attack you around the time you arrive here, but is dealt
with exactly like the previous ones (5).
Off this corridor to the east is a teleporter with a sign reading Ghostproof
Bunker. Do not go there yet - the sign is literally correct, but it's by no
means a safe haven. Go south first, and the corridor leads into another small
room. A dwarven ghost will attack here and is dealt with the usual way (6).
alcoves hold a stamina potion and a torch, and an iron locked metal gate here
with a teleporter behind there. For that key, you need to brave the Ghostproof
Bunker, and I suggest saving before you take the teleporter in there.
Although there are no dwarven ghosts in the bunker, there *are* four dwarven
warriors who are very much alive, and just as hostile. Two are right in your
face as you enter. The same Freeze / Lightning Strike combo that kills the
ghosts works here too, but you may have to finish your targets off with melee,
and probably take some damage in the doing. Main thing is, you have room to</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
sidestep here, and you should - don't stand there and take hits, sidestep left
and right to make them follow you, and pick at them while they move back into
combat. About the time both are dead (7-8), a third and a fourth guard enters
the fray. Keep up the sidesteps, and you may also want to retreat back through
the teleporter you entered the bunker through if you're threatened and need to
heal. Either way, take care of these two also (9-10) for a bit of rest. One of
the four guards drops the iron key you need. Explore the room to the west also
that the reinforcements came from. The chest holds a magic crystal, and behind
the metal gate opened with the lever next to it are a golden key and a Diamond
Helmet. The helmet gives the same 2 armor as your iron helmet and +5
Intelligence to boot, so that's an upgrade you want to do. The golden key you
need also. With these items, leave the bunker again by teleporter, and head into
the south room again. Use the iron key to open the gate to the teleporter on the
south wall, and head into the teleporter to teleport back to the entrance.
Back at the entrance you can use your golden key on either of the golden locks
on the west and east side of the small space in the center of the room. One
opens the metal gate and allows you to go inside, the other activates a
teleporter in there. You won't be able to do anything until you can tackle both
locks, though, and as you will have guessed, for the second golden key you need
the teleporter on the western wall to get into a new section of the level.
The corridor you end up at leads east, but a teleporter stops you from advancing
quickly. But go all the way to the west end check the north wall for a telltale
triangular, discolored tile to press down. This deactivates that teleporter (it
doesn't count as a secret this time). You can now proceed further east, but
after a bit you'll find yourself teleported further east, leading into a dead
end shaped much the same as the one on the west. A corridor leading south cannot
be reached thanks to the second teleporter. But this one is resolved in pretty
much the same way: in the easternmost part of the corridor, again on the
northern wall, is another triangular tile which takes out the second teleporter,
and lets you reach the south corridor. It also blocks you *off* from getting
back to the entrance, but leave that be for now. It's the south corridor that
you want now. Before you head in, create the Fireball spell again on your spell
grid (Levitation - Fire - Injury), there are enemies in there that you want it
for.
Head south. tHe telltale squeaks will tell you of rats, and sure enough, one
followed by another will come to meet you from the corridor. Low swipes with
your sword and the Fireball spell will do well - they're immune to Freeze and
without it helping the damage, Lightning Strike doesn't do as much damage as
you'd like, which is why I'd use Fireball here. Kill the two rats (11-12). Then
explore the area, which takes the shape of a large room with four walled off
squares in the middle. On the east side is another rat to fight, this one
thankfully alone (13).
In a small room to the east, behind some bars in the corner that you can just
walk around, you will find Golden Pants. They hare 5 armor to your 3 armor
Soldier's Pants and also add 25% resistance to cold magic, so definitely upgrade
to these. In a room to the west, behind bars that can be raised with a switch on
the west wall, is another Iron Sword, the same as the one you already found in
the east section and are probably already using, so there's no upgrade this
time. Back in the main room, there is a stone in the southeast, an iron locked
gate in the southwest, and a corridor leading further south. Before you go
there, note that on the west wall of the northeast of the four blocked squares
is a triangular discolored tile that opens a secret passage (secret 2). What it
opens is the northWEST blocked square, from the west. Inside is a magic crystal
and a moderate mana potion.
Now take the south corridor, carefully. A spike trap is just a few steps south.
Stop before it and step into a teleporter to your left (east of the corridor) to
be teleporter next to the spike pit, which is now closed...but *do not* step on
it, because as it stands it will open and claim your life. Rather, move one
square to the west and see why - you teleported on top of a pressure plate, and
stepping off it opens the spike pit again. Use a weight (such as the stone you
just found) to weigh down the plate and *then* you can safely step on and beyond
the trapdoor.
Beyond here are two buttons and several rooms blocked of by metal bars, and a
sign saying "Transporter ramp, put the delivery here". On the south wall is an
alcove, but it's closed right now. The pressure plate that opens it behind the
northernmost set of bars on the east wall, but a small item will not do here to
weigh it down. The large stones that lie in the corridor will do the trick, but
*they* won't fit through the bars. You need to operate the transporter ramp to
get them in the right spot.
Here's how to do it: put *both* of the large stones in the space just under the
sign. Back up and go one space north in the corridor, and you now have a button
on both sides of you. Press the button on the east. The space where you put the
stones is closed off and a teleporter appears, which brings the stones one space
to the norh. Now press the button on the west, and they are moved up one more
space. Press the button on the east again to move it up again. Keep alternating
the west and east buttons and your large stones get moved up bit by bit, until
finally they arrive in the spot with the pressure plate. The two stones together
will weigh down the pressure plate, opening the alcove on the south wall. Inside
is an iron key.
Take the corridor north to the larger room again, go east and unlock the gate
with the iron key. Head into the corridor behind it. After a few turns, it leads
into a 3x3 room with a pressure plate in the middle (stepping on it activates a
teleporter to the south), a closed door, and a sign that instructs you to "Ask
the watch to activate the teleport", with a lever next to it. Take this time to
set up your Freeze and Lightning Strike spells on the grid again.
If you happen to still have two large stones (possible if you brought them from
a previous floor), two will indeed weigh down the pressure plate, but you might
as well pull the leverl to bring out the watch, being a dwarven guard who is not
pleased to se you. With your conveniently available Freeze and Lightning Strike
spells and potentially a melee finisher, take him out (14). In the room he came
from are the very two large stones needed to weigh down the pressure plate. Do
so to activate the teleporter in the south alcove, and use it to teleport to a
new section once more. Here, before moving, set up the Levitation - Fire -
Injury combnation on your spell grid again for Fireball.
Go through the corridor and find a room to the east. Two rats comes from here,
hence the Fireball, kill them with that and low swipes of the sword (15-16).
Inside is a large stone, and in the easternmost square on the north wall, a
triangular discolored tile. Press that to open another secret passage (secret
3). The secret compartment opens just east of you and has another magic crystal
in it. After getting thism return west to the corridor, and this time head
further north. On your east is an iron locked gate, and to the west a passage is
blocked off by wooden bars. Those can be destroyed with a melee attack or the
Fireball spell. This is not counted as a secret. Behind there is your third Fire
rune - no immediate need for it - and a Scroll of Concentration. This spell is
cast with Fire - Heart - ??? - Concentration runes, the third of which you don't
yet have, and temporarily buffs Intelligence at the cost of some Health. Not
vital, but a nice option to have, once you have the missing rune anyway.
Explore a final room to the norh. In the very northern tip of it is a chest,
that is however locked and requires an iron key. A message on the wall reminds
you not to disturb workers in their cells. Finally in alcoves on the western and
eastern walls are buttons. Before you touch those, set up your Freeze and
Lightning Strike spells again. Then press the button on the east wall first. You
get teleporterd a bit further eastward, and are immediately under attacked by a
dwarven warrior. Kill him (17). He drops a moderate healing potion and a silver
key. Get out of this section again with another button on the wall at the east
end.
Back in the original room, now press the button in the west alcove. Serious deja
vu will result as you get teleporter into a section to the west, with one
dwarven guard to kill (18, the last enemy of the chapter) who drops a moderate
healing potion, and a golden key, this time. This time there is also the last
secret of the chapter to uncover, though: on the southern wall in the middle of
the passage, you'll find the familiar triangular discolored tile once more.
Press it to open an alcove behind you (secret 4, the final one), holding an iron
key. With that in hand, press the button on the north wall at the western end of
the corridor to be teleported back to the main room.
Before you head out, return to the chest on the north wall and unlock it with
the iron key. Inside is a Golden Ring that increased stamina regeneration speed
by 25%. You have an empty ring slot still, so equip this. Now head south again
and find the silver locked door on the east wall that we have passed by earlier.
You have the silver key now thanks to the dwarf in the eastern room, so unlock
this door and head inside. Despite the ghostly sounds, no more enemies appear
here - simply step into the teleporter.
You'll be brought back to the entrance of the chapter, and now have the second
golden key necessary to operate the center square. One golden key opens the gate
to it, the second activates the teleporter in it, by using them on the walls
around this space. Step into the teleporter and you are brought straight to the
exit of the chapter, with all 18 kills, all 4 secrets, and no children rescued
as there weren't any in this chapter. You should be level 7 at this point.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 6 (2 secrets, 8 enemies, 0 children)
---------------------------------------------
You start out i the northwest corner of the map, in a 3x3 room holding two
torches and a moderate healing potion. Two sets of rails with a mining cart on
it lead out of here, but the one at the south passage is blocked off with metal
bars. Instead hop in the mining cart in the northeast corner.
The cart leads you to a smaller room still. There is a silver locked gate here,
and a lever on the east wall. Pull the lever up, to no visible effect, then
return on the cart to the original room. You'll find here that the lever opened
the metal bars blocking the south cart. Note next to it a sign of an arrow
pointing to the right. You can't interact with these, they just tell you how the
mining cart will currently turn.
Get on the cart. You'll notice it ignores a passage leading to the left, and
drop you off farther south, in another small room. All you will find here is a
lever. Push it to its upward position also and return on the cart. Note that
after changing that lever, the arrow sign now points to the left. Get on the
same cart again, and this time it *will* turn left into the side passage.
This next small room has a sign on your left as you get off the cart, reading
"Do not enter the warehouse with fire". There is also an iron locked door here,
a closed alcove on the wall, and next to it, a set of metal bars with a pressure
plate behind it. Toss a torch through there - a rock won't do the trick, but a
torch weighs down the pressure plate. The sign was rather obscurely hinting
toward this. At any rate, the niche next to you now opens, and inside is the
iron key to unlock the door on the south, go through there.
Another small room. First off, the wooden crates in here can be destroyed with a
weapon strike or a simple Fireball spell. Inside the crates you'll find a Rune
of Extension and a Scroll of Fireblast. Fireblast uses Levitation - Fire - Fire
- Extension - Injury, a combination you now can and should lay. Note also that
the Burning spell you learned earlier can also be used now, with Fire -
Extension - Injury. Fireblast deals 20-40 damage instantly and then adds more
fire damage over a period of 10 seconds. Burning deals just the damage over
time, 9 damage every 3 seconds for 12 seconds. That is of course two seconds
longer and the description if Fireblast does not specific how much damage it
deals, though I suspect it's the same. Fireblast is definitely the more powerful
spell, and should now be your go-to for anything you intend to use fire on.
Moving on, there is a large stone in the room, and a lever that opens the niche
next to it, holding a silver key. Take the cart back to the entrance room and
then the cart leading east to get back to the silver lock. Put the key in the
lock in the southeast corner, which opens the door. Proceed south through it.
The passage straight south is soon blocked, and the path east also, but take the
path west instead. It turns south again and then ends at a suspicious fragile
wall with a torch you can see and hear burning behind it. Hit the wall with a
swipe from your weapon to crumble it so you can access the room behind it.
On the west wall you see three carts, all behind metal bars. A sign nearby
explains they lead to the Warehouse, the Armory and the Barracks respectively.
Another sign tells you you're in the Control room, and finally another cart that
*is* accessible leads south. Ride that one. This leads to a room with three
levers, a sign urging you to be on your platform on time, and writing on the
south wall saying that platforms 2 and 3 are out of order. So what is going on
here is that these three levers are *supposed* to open the the gates in the
previous room, temporarily so you need to hurry, and only the first one actually
works. What you want to do is pull the southernmost lever, hurry back on the
cart, and go through the now open gate to the southernmost of the three carts on
the west. You need to hurry before it closes again, or you'll need to head back
to the lever and try again. The other two gates never open and their levers do
nothing.
After a long cart ride, you get dropped in a 3x3 room with a sign identifying it
as the Warehouse. There is an iron locked gate on the east with stairs leading
down behind it. Another cart is to the north, but a wooden fence blocks it and
you can't ride it yet. That leaves the room to the west, which has an open trap
door, and in the northwest corner, another wall to the north that can be
destroyed with a swipe of your weapon. Unlike the previous one, this one counts
as a secret (secret 1). The small space behind it holds a Rune of Mind and a
Scroll of Immunity (Injury - Mind - Concentration). This spell is avaialble to
you right now, with the Mind rune you find here, but it will only be of use
against enemies using magic, of which there aren't that many, and against magic
traps. Of which there *is* one a little later in this chapter, so at least for
now, readying an Immunity spell on your grid is worth doing.
With no other options available to you, jump into the open trapdoor to end up on
floor 2. In this long room, you'll find three chests on the right wall,
containing a Moderate Healing and a Moderate Mana Potion, a Round Shield, and
finally a Fighting Knife and a Stamina Potion. The Round Shield gives 4 armor
and 25% resistance to acid damage and is a straight up improvement over your
Buckler, so equip that. The Fighting Knife does 15-17 damage per 15 stamina,
which makes it inferior to your Iron Sword, so I wouldn't bother with that one.
Finally, in the northeast corner next to the stairs leading back up, you'll find
a Gem Encrusted Key. That one you do need, so take that with you before heading
back up.
The stairs lead into a new room on floor 1, where there's an open trapdoor that
sends you right back down to where you just came from, a niche with an iron key
that a nearby sign pegs as the spare key for the warehouse, and a closed door on
the north wall with an odd shaped lock behind it. Your Gem Encrusted Key fits in
here, but there are two slots, and you need to find and bring a second Gem
Encrusted Key before you can open this door. Use the one you have anyway and
take that iron key with you, before exiting this room by the cart at the south
end. This brings you back to the Warehouse, by the north cart that was
inaccessible earlier.
Now that you have the "spare" iron key, you can unlock the east gate in the
Warehouse. Do so and go down the stairs behind it to a new section of floor 2.
The cart in this room can't move, because the ceiling right behind it collapsed
and is blocking the rail. However, the wall right next to this cart is once
again a destructible one. Strike with your weapon to open it up. Save before you
proceed.
Following the cart rail on foot, you'll come to a room with your first enemies
of the floor at last - two bats attacking from two sides. The Fireblast spell
works wonders here, and melee attacks (aimed high) will also work. Either way,
take them both down (1, 2). Then look around the room. There are many gates
leading out of here, but all are closed. A sign on the south wall says Automatic
door closing, warning that these will close quickly after being opened. As for
the opening, if you face south and stand looking at that sign, but one space
away, you'll notice pull chains on theleft and right side of your view. Pull the
one on the left first to hear a wooden fence blocking a cart being lifted. Then
pull the one on the right and the gate in the northwest corner is temporarily
opened. This was the one the wooden fence was blocking too, so hurry through and
ride this cart.
You are dropped in a room farther to the north. There are sacks on the room you
can bust open with your weapon. The one on the east contains a Moderate Healing
Potion, the one on the west a Moderate Mana Potion. In a niche on the north wall
is a lever to pull. Then head back with the cart to the original room, and find
that pulling the lever opened the gate in the southeastern corner.
Here, you'll find a lever and a sign reading "Security system and room B switch.
Activate the system before leaving." Now comes the fun part, by which I mean,
save here. Pull the lever and return to the room with the many gates. You'll
notice two changes: "room B" (the gate on the northeast corner) is now open, and
the security system is now activate, shooting frost bolts consistently in front
of the gate. You'll have to weather that. Either be quick so the damage is
survivable, or play it smart and bust out your Immunity spell (Injury - Mind -
Concentration) which does in fact make you immune to this trap. In the room
behind the gate, you'll find another lever to pull, which now opens the gate
next to the one you entered this room from, this one leading to cart going east.
You'll have to brave the Frost Bolt trap again for this, and will definitely be
hit doing it. So I'd use that Immunity spell; otherwise, don't let it be said I
didn't tell you to save first.
The cart drops you, safe for the moment, in a new room with crates to bust open
with your weapon. Inside the first is a suit of Diamond Armor, giving 8 armor
and 5 strength. Your current Golden Armor gives 9 armor, so it's not strictly
better, though I'd definitely go with 5 strength at the cost of a single point
of armor. The crate on the left has a second Heart Rune and a Scroll of Cure, a
regeneration spell. The combination Heart - Extension - Concentration will gives
4 health every 3 seconds for 30 seconds, in other words, 40 health over half a
minute. The crates further back hold an additional Rune of Injury and the item
you need to proceed, a second Gem Encrusted Key.
As an aside, now that you have two Heart runes, one trick you may want to use is
to put a Heart Rune on the grid and the Concentration rune next to it, making a
Healing spell, then put the second Heart rune on one of the other three sides of
the Concentration Rune, so that you can trace a Healing spell from either Heart
Rune to the Concentration Rune. This can be worth doing because the
Concentration Rune has a shorter cooldown than the Heart Runes do, allowing you
to follow up heals more quickly than from a single Heart - Concentration combo.
With all that collected, you're not *quite* done in this room: the east wall in
the northeastern corner is another weak wall that you can break with a weapon
swipe - this counts as secret 2 (though you've taken down *four* such walls now
in this chapter). The corridor behind it is long and twisty, eventually leading
into a large room where six bats will attack you as you draw near, separately if
you don't run in too far. Let them come to you and you can make this into six
separate fights, rather than be ganged up on. Fireblast does wonders here, but a
high aimed weapon strike can do the trick also. Either way, kill them all (3-8).
You have at this point found both secrets and killed all enemies, all bats.
There also are no children to rescue, so now it's just a matter of wrapping up.
Map out the room. In the southwest area, in a niche in the west wall, is a
Fighter's Ring, which increases your critical hit chance by 25%. Since you are
already wearing the maximum of two rings, if you want this, another has to go.
I'd hang on to the Golden Ring and swap out the Silver Ring, myself. Tucked in a
corner on the east side is a Crystal. In the very northeast corner is a Stamina
Potion. That's all in there, so save, and head back to the room to the west,
where the cart goes south. Please don't ride that one *before* you cast
Immunity, since the Frost Bolt trap is still tirelessly lobbing projectiles and
the cart ride may well prove fatal if you are not protected.
Through the Frost Bolt trap, take the passage in the southwest of the room. Note
that a gate will block this passage if you turn off the security system and stop
the Ice Bolts - you may recall the sign saying to activate the system before
leaving. Or in this case, leave it on. While the system is active, the gate is
open, and you can leave this room through the southwest gate, which is how you
first entered it. Walk along the tracks to the room you entered this floor from,
and take the stairs back up.
Take the cart north, back to the room with the door kept closed with the lock
requiring two Gem Encrusted Keys. Now that you collected the second one, use
that on the lock also and the door will open. A lever behind it will open the
level exit, and since you have uncovered both secrets and slain all eight of the
bats, you're ready for the next chapter. You should still be level 7.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 7 (5 secrets, 18 enemies, 6 children)
---------------------------------------------
Before you begin exploring, you need to change your spell grid around again. The
enemies here won't be affected by fire magic, so drop Fireblast and prepare
Freeze (Frost - Time - Frost - Injury) and Lightning Strike (Levitation -
Lightning - Levitation) again.
Follow the only path from the entrance until it turns south, and a lone dwarf
comes up to attack you. These gentlemen are pretty sturdy, and fully immune to
fire, So hitting him with Freeze and then Lightnign Strike (which deals extra
damage to frozen enemies) is a better bet. This won't be enough for a kill, so
follow up with melee attacks and more Lightning Strikes - without Freeze
probably, as especially the Time Rune takes 19 seconds to become available
again. Back up as necessary to get your spells in and you should be able to get
the kill (1). Bear in mind that dwarves are immune to the effect of Crystals and
using one to augment your spells will not help against them.
Explore the small room the dwarf came from. There's a torch and a lever that
opens the door to the south. Go through there. You'll step into a larger room
you want to systematically map, but carefully - there are enemies here and
they're tough, so you want to avoid getting more than one on you at a time.
(Note: their positions are not completely fixed, as they do wander around and
may be triggered by you being nearby, so you may find some enemies slightly off
from the positions I mention.) My suggested route: from the entrance to this
large room, walk three steps east and face south. You will see an orc
patrolling. Unlike dwarves, fire does work on them, so you could reconstruct
Fireblast on your grid (Levitation - Fire - Fire - Extension - Injury). But if
you don't feel like constantly having to change your spells, hitting him with
Freeze and Lightning Strike works fine. Either way, cast your ranged spell when
he's directly ahead of you, but stay where you are and let him come to you.
Repeated castings and melee attacks should do the trick, retreat back to the
entrance if necessary, so nobody else will be alarmed and interfere with this
kill (2).
Proceed further east along the wall. A sign at the end reads "Abandoned Mine -
path closed". That is where we'll be going at the end of the chapter. For now,
turn south, hugging the east wall of the room as best as you can, and you'll
soon spot another dwarf at the end of a short passageway. Engage and kill him
(3), remembering against that fire and crystals won't work on dwarves. Walk into
the passage he came from, and face the north wall. It's a fragile one, hit it
with your weapon to open a passage. Follow this passage to another fragile wall
at the north end. Bring it down with your weapon also. This time you end up at a
closed bars with a gold lock. This will be your passage to the next chapter
later on. For now, nothing you can do, so head back into the main room. Head
farther south and then hug the south wall as you head west. Nearby, you may
notice a gate with a sign saying it leads to Watrys's laboratory. This is a red
herring, there is no way to get in here. This area will be visited in a later
chapter, from a different angle. Continue west, and after a few steps, you will
encounter another dwarf. Rinse and repeat, kill him with magic and your weapon
(4), but don't advance to him or where he came from, only retreat back to where
you've been if you need to. If you did get too close, you may also trigger an
orc, in which case you'll want to back up east as you do your best to take out
one target before the other. Assuming you got just the dwarf, kill him and head
up to face the orc almost immediately after. Fight him in the usual way (5). He
drops a Mining Hammer. These are used to mine Crystals, on this chapter and
several to come, so it's worth finding a spot on your quickbar for it so you
don't have to keep digging for it. You'll find additional Mining Hammers, which
for the most part you don't need, as they are reusable. You do want to bring one
additional one to open a door later inthis chapter. They stack anyway, so you
can keep up to 9 in one inventory slot if you want to start a collection.
Head into the passage to the south with another orc to kill (6) who drops
another Mining Hammer. Beyond this orc, go farther south and you'll blunder into
a child to rescue (child 1). The children are being used to mine crystals
because they are immune to their effects, so the story says. In this same room
on the south wall, you will also find a crystal vein to mine. To do so, drag a
Mining Hammer over the protruding crystal near the top right of the wall,
causing a loose Crystal to drop on the floor. If you haven't been using your
Crystals, you'll soon have more than fit in one slot now, so it's fine to start
using some to power up spells - it just doesn't work against dwarves.
In the northeast corner of this same room, the east wall is another fragile wall
that a weapon strike will take down, and this time it counts as a secret (secret
1). You will find one more crystal wall to mine in the passage behind here. Back
out of the room again after this and take the passage west, leaving the main
room be for now. You'll soon see another small room to the south with various
items scattered around: a regular stone, a large stone, a torch and a Moderate
Healing Potion. Follow the passage further west after this and it leads into a
corridor heading north and south. Go south first, carefully - soon there is a
spike trap.
On the north wall directly in front of the spike trap is a lever, but leave that
be, it doesn't close the pit trap, only a gate behind it that should remain
open. You see two pressure plates behind the pit trap, and you should throw
items across the pit trap to land on both of the plates. This is done by
dragging the item from the bottom of your touch screen to the top before letting
go, more quickly to hit the far plate. You need to use a regular stone or torch
for this, not a large stone. With both pressure plates weighed down, the spike
trap closes and you can walk over it.
On the other side of the spike trap, you'll find one Mining Hammer and two wall
that a crystal can be mined from. Then exit over the closed spiked pit again -
you'll need to leave the items you tossed on the pressure plates, but for two
Crystals, that ought to be a good trade. Head north through the corridor this
time and it connects on the west end of the large main room again, and a dwarf
immediately attacks you. Let him come to you and work your magic and swordplay
for the kill (7). After that, you'll notice several pit traps here. Deliberately
fall into the one nearest where you are entering the main room. This is another
secret room (secret 2). In here is a Stamina Potion, a Crystal and a teleporter
that brings you back up.
Just east of the second pit trap is another crystal wall you can mine. Directly
south of the third pit trap from the west stands another child to rescue (child
2). A bit to the north is a staircase that leads to a lower area that all the
other pit traps connect to. Nothing to find in there otherwise. A bit north of
the stairs another orc will attack you. If you've been dutifully clearing the
monsters I mentioned, he should be alone and can be killed off (8), dropping a
Mining Hammer.
Due north from the stairs is another child to rescue (child 3), who also
explains the crystal mining you've been doing for a while. Near him is another
crystal wall to mine. In the northwest corner of the main room is a lever behind
a silver lock, and next to it a mining cart. Leave that be for now and finish
mapping out the main room first, and making sure you kill whatever enemies
weren't where I suggested they'd be. You should have 8 kills at this point.
Before you head off to the mine cart, note the 4x2 area with one square jutting
out slightly east of the middle of the large room. At the northwest corner of
the east room is a lever. Save before using it. This opens the gate into the
inner room, in which are not one but two dwarves. After a short conversation
with the first, they both attack. Lead them in circles around their inner area,
pelting them with Freeze and Lightning Strike. You'll appreciate that the
Lightning Strike has a small area of effect and often hits them both. Careful,
they too can sometimes cast fire projectiles at you. Keep some distance, and if
things look dicey, you *can* flee by hopping into one of the pit traps, healing
up, and then coming back to finish them (although you may have to search a bit
as they tend to wander if you do this). On killing them (9-10), one drops a
Moderate Healing Potion and the other a Moderate Mana Potion. There is a second
Moderate Mana Potion sitting on the floor here that you will probably come
across while running circles around the inner room. (Random note: I found once
upon entering this inner room that there were no dwarves and the potions they
are supposed to drop were sitting there. The likely cause is those Lightning
Strike spells I'd been tossing around - they have a small area of effect and I
think I got so lucky that they slew these two dwarves without me ever
encountering them.)
Then explore the inner room. there is a lever near the entrance to close and
open the entrance door, no point in that, and on the other side, a lever that
opens a niche in the wall revealing an iron key. Exit the inner room and walk
around its south side to find the lock for this key, opening up the southern
strip of the inner area holding a child to rescue (child 4).
With that, the main room is wrapped up, so head to the northwest now to the
mining cart. Before you get on, note (you'll hear it clearly) the fountain on
the west wall just south of the cart. Inside is a Longsword (secret 3), which
does 27-31 damage for 23 stamina, an improvement over your current Iron Sword,
so equip this. Then ride the cart. You'll notice it turns right at an
intersection and drops you in a northern room, where you'll immediately be under
attack by a solitary dwarf. Kill him (11 - you have enough room to run circles
around him, or can even flee back onto the cart if the battle goes poorly). The
dwarf drops a Moderate Healing Potion and a silver key that we will use in a bit
to get the cart to take the other path. First, explore the rest of this room.
Right next to the cart you entered this room with is another leading south, but
a wooden fence keeps it from running right now. A passage leading west ends at
two crystal walls to mine. A passage north leads to a child in a cell which you
can't open just yet. Finally, a room to the east has a torch and three levers
with signs.
The east lever opens the bars before the "abandoned mine spare key", the
goldenkey you need to exit the chapter when you're done here. In here are also a
Rune of Frost (your third), a Rune of Ground (your first) and a Scroll of Frost
Field, instructing how to put these to work immediately: Frost Field is cast
with Frost - Frost - Frost - Ground, all of which you have by now. Like Freeze,
it pins an enemy in place, gives it weakness to lightning magic and is more
damaging in my experience than Freeze is, so I'd break that one up and put this
in its place.
The northwest lever is marked as the control for the "remote control cellar
door", a fancy way of saying that this will open the cell holding the child in
the room just to your west. Free him (child 5), and be told about the abandoned
mine which is indeed where you're going when you are done here.
The southwest lever, finally, is marked Barracks Line, and this activates the
second cart near where you entered this area from. Head there, and get on the
cart. The room on the other side has a closed door, a pit trap (do not fall in
this one) and a sign saying "leave your mining equipment here". What you want to
do is toss one of your Mining Hammers inside the pit, causing the door to open.
Behind there are two orcs who will almost certainly gang up on you, so back off
to being in front of the mining cart, and don't feel guilty about fleeing on it
if the battle goes poorly, so you can heal safely before heading back in. Rinse
and repeat until you've killed both (12-13).
The room the orcs were found in has a torch and, in the northwest, two chests.
The first holds Boots of Fire, giving +3 Armor and 30% fire resistance. It's a
bit of a trade off with the Boots of Dexterity (+2 Armor and +2 Dexterity), so
your call if you want to change them. The second chest has your first Major
Healing Potion and a Moderate Mana Potion. Furthermore, in the southeastern
corner of the room, facing the east waLL, there's a depression in the wall.
press it to open a secret compartment (secret 4). Inside is a Golden Necklace
that gives +4 strength. Strictly better than the Necklace of Strength giving +2,
so replace it. Finally in the southwest are stairs down, take those.
This is the same area the pit that you tossed your Mining Hammer into leads to,
and there are no fewer than three dwarves here - the reason why you should not
have jumped into the pit. Round the corner so the first two see you, and flee
back to the stairs to let them come to you. Odds are good that they will come
one at a time, and you can flee up the stairs if need be. Kill them with Frost
Field and Lightning Strike (14-15), and collect a Moderate Mana Potion from each
of them. Then round the corner again to pick off the third dwarf (16) and get
another Moderate Mana Potion for your trouble.
Examine the room behind this last dwarf to find a pressure plate with the Mining
Hammer on it that you threw through the pit trap. There are two more Mining
Hammers in the corner that you can take if you must, though you really don't
need spares anymore. Also there is a chest against the wall with two Runes of
Lightning and a Scroll of Gale, a spell using Lightning - Lightning - Lightning
- Ground. You have all those runes now, so you can break up your Lightning
Strike spell and put the three Lighting Runes next to one another, with the
third one connecting to the one Ground Rune you have, so that it can be used for
both Frost Field and Gale. Two good spells to have and Frost Field would help up
the damage of Gale further, but while they're sharing the same Ground Rune,
Frost Field will wear off before the Gale spell becomes available. You may
consider putting Freeze (Frost - Time - Frost - Injury) on your spell grid again
in place of Frost Field, so you can combine Gale with *that*, as they don't
share any runes.
You're not quite done here - you'll have heard the fountain on the north wall
now. Inside is a Crystal (secret 5, the final one). When you have that, head
back up the stairs, back with the mining cart and again the mining cart next to
it, back into the chapter's main area. Walk one step forward and turn left to
the silver lock, which you have the key for by now. Unlock the iron gate and
pull the lever behind it, and notice the indicator for the mine cart's direction
changing. Get back on the mine cart and this time it'll turn left into a new
room to the south.
An orc attacks you as you get off the cart. There's no room to maneuver, so just
face him down and hop back on the cart if you're in danger. Kill him (17),
rescue the final child of the chapter (child 6) and mine two crystal walls in
this room before heading back on the cart. You're about done now. Head back east
to the gold locked gate that was behind the two fragile walls.
A few steps behind the golden gate is your final foe of this chapter, a ghost
dwarf, as a nice preview of what you're going to be facing in the next chapter.
Frost doesn't affect him, but either fire or lightning will work nicely (18).
With him out of the way, head down the stairs to the next chapter. You should be
level 8 by now.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 8 (5 secrets, 19 enemies, 0 children)
---------------------------------------------
You start in the south this time. A few steps north lead you to two paths,
though the one on the right leads to a dead end caused by a cave in very
quickly. You will, however, be attacked by a ghost orc coming from the east
wall. Lightning magic, amplfied by freezing him, will do - he's immune to fire.
Physical swipes at the head will do some damage also. Kill him however you
prefer (1). These guys are capable of self healing, but continual damage - such
as what's caused by Gale - should keep them from doing so.
Start exploring further to the west, your way north is mostly blocked. You'll
run across another orc attacking from the north, this one alive, though he's
vulnerable to the same things (2). He'll drop a moderate healing potion.
Hugging the south wall, continue west and just before a dead end will be a gate
in the south wall. Pull the lever next to it to open it. Behind it is a rail,
but no cart on it. Don't move in yet. A ghostly orc comes at you as soon as you
enter, so kill him your usual way (3). After that you can step onto the track.
Another ghostly orc may attack from the wall on your right very soon, which is
why you should kill the previous orc before you take the step, lest you have
both of them on you at once. Step back into the hallway to force this ghost to
come out of the wall, and kill him. I find this guy sometimes won't come, in
which case you'll assuredly encounter him later.
To the south, the rail soon ends at a cave in, but to the west of the tracks is
a small room with a niche at the end, with a nearby button that opens it. Inside
is an iron key (one of two you will need) and a moderate mana potion. You're
done in this area, head north on the tracks again back to the main room.
You're in the southwestern part of the main room now. Head north along the
western wall. You'll find yourself forced into a path north, two spaces wide.
Head due west and you'll notice a fragile looking wall (not to mention your map
outright shows the passage behind it). A weapon swipe will open up the path
(secret 1). A chest at the end of the passage holds your fourth Fire Rune and a
scroll of Fire Field. This spell uses Fire - Fire - Fire - Ground, and as such,
you didn't need that fourth Fire Rune and were already able to cast this in the
previous chapter, though you had little reason to. It can now be good to have
around, so on your spell grid, connect it to the same Ground Rune you are using
for Gale. You can have Fire Field, Gale and Freeze all castable on the grid. I
still don't like putting Frost Field on there using the same Ground Rune also,
as that keeps you from combining your ice and lightning for bonus damage.
A little north from here, in the northwest corner of the room, are iron bars
closing off a passage with a silver lock next to it. That's a key you don't have
right now. Head further east hugging the north wall, until you are two spaces
west of the entrance. head south again and you'll come to an apparently
featureless part of the room closed in by obstacles to your south. A ghost orc
will burst through the east wall while you are here, though, so get clear of the
wall to get him out in the open, and kill him (4) - though you may have seen him
a bit earlier. Furthermore, on the east wall he likely came out of, is a large
loose rock. Press it to cause it to open (secret 2), and collect a Warrior's
Ring. This ring increases your melee by 8, making you much more likely to hit
with a melee attack. You will have to sacrifice another ring for it, though. I
tend to replace the Fighter's Ring with it and keep the Golden Ring, but it's a
trade off either way.
Find the north wall again and continue east. A living orc will come at you. You
know the drill by now, take him down (5). He'll drop a moderate healing potion.
Head south from here again as far you can and then face east, we'll leave the
northeast corner for last, for now. Down south a new enemy type approaches, a
zombie. Main issue with zombies, apart from not taking a whole lot of damage
from your Longsword, is that they self-heal through autocannibalism. To prevent
that, you want them to keep taking damage, so your spells that keep causing
damage like Gale, and also Fire Field in this particular case, should do good
work (6). Advance carefully, or you might find yourself facing a second zombie
that's nearby at the same time - if you do, you'll find that Fire Field will, at
least, hit both at once, though getting him alone would be better for your
health (7). Incidentally, if mana potions are necessary to keep up your casting
here, by all means use them - they heal back up quickly if you don't keep the
pressure up.
With the zombies down, head a little further east along the south wall and
you'll find a closed niche in the south wall, and if you face west from there, a
pull chain on the right side. Pull that to uncover an iron key, the second one
you will need shortly. Further east is a passage leading south, then turning
east, into a pair of gates with pressure plates on either side. The plates close
and open the gates while held down. There is actually already a stone on the
very first plate to hint you toward how this works. The way through is to toss
an item through the first gate on the pressure plate behind it (closing the
gate), then putting another item on the front plate (opening it again). Repeat
this for the second gate. In the passageway behind the gates is a solitary orc
to kill (8). He drops a moderate healing potion.
On the east wall in the center, right where the orc was, is a niche contained a
Crystal and a Scroll of Silence. Silence is cast with Mind - Frost - Mana -
Injury (runs you already have) and can keep an enemy from using magic for a
short while. I don't use it often, but it's worth considering. At the end of the
passage just south of where you entered is a niche to the south holding your
fourth Rune of Frost, and on the north passage opposite it is your second Rune
of Mind. You need neither of thse if you've been collecting all Runes, no spell
needs two Mind Runes or four Frost Runes. As you leave this area, you can take
the items you used to weigh down the pressure plates with you if you want to,
you won't be going back here.
Heading north from here, you'll find an enclosed space with an iron lock on both
the north and south side, and on its west side a sign saying "Emergency exit,
use with caution". The two iron keys you are carrying go into the locks, and two
gates in front of a teleporter just east of here will open. Ignore the
teleporter for now, but you'll be back here soon. For now, go a little further
north to a room blocked off by iron bars and a zombie inside. If you like, you
can finish him off with spells cast through the bars, otherwise you'll have to
kill him once you make your way inside in a little bit (9). Moving a little
farther west along the bars, you can spot a second zombie you can do the same
thing to, but you probably need to drink a mana potion if you don't want to wait
for your mana to recharge. It is still worth doing it to keep them from healing
themselves eternally - Gale works wonders here (10). Then again he may just have
wandered out of Gale's range, forcing you to come to him. You can do so by
pulling a chain next to the bars at the part where they jut south one tile.
The area behind the bars has no items in it, but you will see a pit trap in its
northeast corner. Jump in there to get to the second floor, but don't move yet.
Turn around to face south and hit the button on the wall, then turn north again.
The tile right to your north sporadically bursts into flames, which are not an
instant kill, but still hurt. You want to wait for them to subside, then quickly
step on and step right before they come out again. A niche i the wall, that was
blocked by bars until you hit that switch just now, holds a Golden Helmet giving
+4 armor and +5 dexterity. This is better on armor than your current Diamond
Helmet, but you trade 5 intelligence for 5 dexterity. So that's your call to
make. I prefer to do it. Heading west from here (careful of the flames), you
find stairs leading back to floor 1.
The stairs end you up in the little corner you have not yet visited, so finish
your map. Your only points of interest now are the silver lock in the northwest
and the teleporter due east. This part is a bit confusing, as the teleporter can
teleport you to 3 random spots, 2 of which are useless (just in front of the pit
trap, and right at the sign about the teleporter), and the third is the one you
need. I've seen the sign be more informative on other version of The Keep
(warning how the teleporter is malfunctioning and can bring you to different
places). The 3DS version does not give any helpful info. But the thing to do
remains the same: stubbornly keep using that teleporter until it randomly drops
you in an area you haven't been able to get to yet. It may take a few tries.
Once it drops you to tiles west of the staircase, you're in business - and under
immediate attack by an orc ghost. Thankfully, that's hardly a new battle, take
him down in whichever way you prefer (11).
Then head further west. There is a teleporter to the west, and just one tile
east and north of there, a chest against the north wall. Inside the chest is the
silver key you need, a scroll reiterating that crystals used to amplify spells
makes them especially potetn against magic users, and a moderate mana potion.
With the key, get into the teleporter to be sent back to the main room, then
head west to end up at the silver lock in the northwest part of the room. Head
through the gate. An orc will close in from the west passage, kill him (12).
Then head into the room he came from, to find the fountain you will have been
hearing for a while. There's an item hidden inside there (secret 3), a major
healing potion. Return east again, at the north end of this passage is a closed
door and a lever right next to it to open it. Do so. A zombie standing just
behind it will attack, you want to use your magic for this (13). Your current
weapon is of little use against them. Then follow the passage, until its end at
stairs leading down to a new part of floor 2.
Near where you come out are two tiles with flames bursting out of them every so
often, and just behind the stairs on a north passage is another zombie to kill
with magic (14). He's the only enemy on this floor. Further to the south and
more stairs down, but don't miss the chest tucked in the corner due west of
them. In here is a Hatchet, a weapon that does 25-55 damage for 35 stamina. This
is strictly speaking less efficient than then Longsword, but fact is, the
Longsword has been useless against zombies and of limited use against orcs, and
here you have actual damage again. I'd definitely trade up for it. After that,
take the stairs down to floor 3.
From the stairs, first head two squares south and one west, and face the south
wall. It's fragile, bash it down with your weapon (secret 4). Behind it is a
moderate mana potion, a moderate healing potion, and a scroll of Freezeball.
That spell use Levitation - Frost - Frost - Extension - Injury for an ice
projectile dealing 20-35 cold damage with a 25% chance to freeze the target.
This is a trade off - although with this you no longer use up the same Ground
Rune that your Gale uses, you now have a *chance* to freeze rather than a
guarantee. Then again, you do have range on this spell, and more to the point,
it does pretty good damage. All in all, I prefer to take this one.
Explore the rest of the room (there is no opposition). On the east end is a
fountain hiding your final secret (secret 5) inside it: a stamina potion. You
will also notice the center of the room is closed off by bars. there's a gate at</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
the north and a sign warning the area is dangerous and you should not enter
unarmed. Your way out is through there, though, so make sure you are fully
healed, save, open the gate at the north end by pull chain, and drop into the
pit trap to floor 4.
As you step from the entrance area, an orc ghost will attack. Kill him with your
magic or your new Hatchet (15). You'll gain your 9th level around here. Head
south along the west wall first to encounter another orc ghost to kill (16).
Just to the east are the final two. It would be good not to face them together,
but with them coming from the walls, you may find that hard to afford. But
between Hatchet and Freezeball, it can be done (17, 18). A small room to the
southeast of the space you entered the floor from (accessed from the south) has
a Mining Hammer and two Crystals in it. A passage in the northeastern part of
this floor has a final zombie to kill (19) and at the end, a minig spot to get a
Crystal from. There are no more enemies now, though you may continue to hear
ghostly sounds. The stairs leading down and out of the chapter are in the
southeastern part of the floor. You should be level 9 at this stage.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 9 (4 secrets, 24 enemies, 5 children)
---------------------------------------------
A nasty stage, and one that had me stuck for the better part of a year for
having missed one of the keys. Here's how to do it.
You start in the nortwestern part of the stage. Follow the corridor to a small
room with exits to the south, east and west, though only the west is open
immediately. Head there first. This area has a set of stairs leading up, another
set leading down, and behind thoes a long room to the west without various trap
doors and pressure plates. What we are going to do here is to get two items on
the top floor to drop to your current floor, but *not* to the bottom floor where
they will become impossible to get. Also make sure not to fall through any trap
door, as you'll be stuck in a cell, impaled by a trap and dead very soon after.
Weigh down the easternmost pressure plates with items (there is one stone in
this room, but presumably by this point your inventory is drowning in stones
and/or torches). This closes the two open trap doors. The two farther to the
west are already closed and remain that way if you do not tamper with the
pressure plates in front of those. Head out of the room again and take the
stairs leading up to floor 2.
In this small room are four closed off sections, in the nearest are the items we
want, but in the farther ones - as you can hear - enemies. Therefore as you
enter, step only on the pressure plate to the left and not the one on the right.
This will let loose one item and one set of enemies, not both sets at once. Take
the stairs down again.
Head back into the west room and see two zombies shambling your way. Use
whatever magic and melee attacks you like, and don't be shy to run circles
around them (the room should be wide enough) to avoid standing up to two enemies
at once. You may also find it possible to use the western pressure plates to
open a trap door under the feet of a zombie, dropping it into the lower floor.
Whatever it takes, take the two zombies down (1, 2). Then, from the first closed
pit trap on the west, collect the Iron Pants. They give +8 to armor compared to
the Golden Pants, but you will lose the Cold Resistance. I'd go for it, though.
Head back up the stairs and this time hit the pressure plate on your right. Get
back down the stairs again and find that you let two more zombies loose in the
west room. Kill them the same way (3, 4), then from the first closed pit trap to
the east, collect the Iron Shield. It, too, gives +8 to armor, a great
improvement over the Buckler's +4 armor, but you lose the Acid Resistance.
Again, I'd say it's worth doing. If at any point you dropped one or more of the
zombies to the lower floor with one of the pit traps, now's the time to head
down and safely kill them, as they'll be stuck behind bars.
That being done, return to the central room, you'll need to open the passage
south (the east door is locked with an iron key you don't yet have). Facing
north from the south gate, you'll see a lever. Using that will open the door and
immediately reveal a child to rescue (child 1). He'll warn you that there is an
evil zombie wizard about to eat the others. Before you head in further, save
your game - and take the time to bring a crystal to your spell grid. The way to
use these is to put one directly behind a damaging spell - I love combining
Freezeball with a crystal for what's coming up next. Also, make sure there are
more in your quickbar - these automatically replace crystals used from your
spell grid.
Head south through the passage and as you reach the room behind it, a regular
zombie will shamble up to attack you, and it can be killed in whatever fashion
you prefer (5). When he's down, make sure your mana is not running on empty,
then head into the southern part of the room. Directly around the pillar in the
middle is the zombie wizard, recognizable by the glow surrounding him. He's very
resistant to regular attacks or spells - the way to break that resistance is to
hit him with a crystal enhanced spell. I find an enhanced Freezeball can kill
him outright or at least leave him very weakened and easy to finish off (6).
Work quickly, because *another* zombie standing behind him will attack while
you're doing this. Take him out the regular way (7). You can use a crystal
enhanced spell if you like, but it's neither necessary nor as much help as it is
against wizards.
You'll find that the crystal is consumed by using it to empower a spell, but if
it is, any avaiable crystal in your quick bar automatically replaces it, which
is why you should always keep some there. You probably have plenty by now, and
more zombie wizards will come up before the chapter is over. The zombie wizard
himself drops a Crystal, and on the north wall where he was standing is a
switch. Press that to open a niche directly south of you. From there, collect an
Iron Key. In the east of the room is a cell door openedwith a pull chain on its
left side, and inside are smaller cells with pull chains on the east wall to
open each. From the cells you'll spring the other four children (child 2-5), one
of whom gives an important hint: in areas with rats, check their rat holes for
items.
With the children rescued, head back to the main room, and this time to its west
wall. Just south of the cauldron is a somewhat hidden btton on the right side of
wall, press that to open a passage to the south (secret 1). Head there - time it
correctly to not get burned by the floor south of you spewing up fire every so
often - and collect a Major Mana Potion and a Mage's Ring from the wall niches
at the end. The Mage's Ring gives 20% quicker mana regenration as well as a +5
to Spellcasting, and is a lovely item to equip, though it means giving up one of
your current Rings for it. I prefer replacing the Golden Ring with it.
Head back to the room to the north, where on the east side, your Iron key will
now open up the gate. Head through there. A short passage ends at a closed gate.
A lever on the north wall near the entrance opens that gate, but only very
briefly. You need to be very fast to make it through before it closed again. The
only way you can do this is to face the north wall, pull the lever and
immediately strafe right three squares by holding the L shoulder button and
pushing the circle pad to the right. If like me you are left handed and use the
stylus in your left hand, you may find it nearly impossible to do this quickly
enough. My approach is to set the 3DS down on a tabletop, put down the stylus
for now and use my right index finger on the touch screen to manipulate the
lever instead, while already holding down the left shoulder button with my left
index finger. Then in the very short time you get as the gate opens, push the
circle pad to the right. It may take a few tries to get this right - or you may
be right handed and find it comes easier. When you are through, SAVE - why put
yourself through that again?
Byond here is a room full of pressure plates and trap doors, which one open,
reveal deadly spike traps. The good news here is that spike traps are only
opened by stepping on pressure plates, never by getting off them, so the only
way to die is by stepping into an open trap yourself. Begin by heading two
squares into the room (you're now facing an open pit trap), turning left (facing
a now closed pit trap), and moving two squares to the wall. Then turn right to
face east again. Don't move, as there are spikes just ahead of you, but behind
them is a zombie you can pick off with ranged magic while he is helpless to move
(8). Three Freezeballs should do the trick. Now comes the fun of hitting the
various pressure plates in the room to close the pit traps one by one. I haven't
quite figured out the combination, but try to hit pressure plates and watch for
the northeast niche where the zombie was to become accessible, the southeast
niche that holds a lone Crstal, and the passage leading east out of the room
(the latter at the least requires you to hit the pressure plate in the southeast
corner). In the northeast niche, you'll find your fifth Rune of Fire and a
scroll of Fire Wall, a spell using Levitation - Fire - Fire - Fire - Levitation
and dealing 20-65 fire damage to the square right in front of you. Potentially
your best fire spell yet, although it will require both Levitation runes you
have and may be tricky to set up without breaking up other spells. I tend to
skip this one.
Taking the east passage out of this room, head around the corner and save your
game. Three squares of this corridor have spikes shooting out of the right wall
systematically. Despite my attempts, I was unable to find a safe way through
that lets you avoid them consistently, and I found the best way tends to be to
make a run for it as soon as the spikes right in front of you retract, and you
see only the farthest spikes (on the third square) being out. I still take one
hit from the spikes in the doing, but only the one. Immediately as you hit the
far wall, turn right - a rat is attacking. Kill him with magic or melee attacks
(and don't forget you may want to drink a healing potions if the spikes tagged
you, they hurt and so does the rat). When the rat is down (9), you are safe for
the moment, so heal up and save again. First head west, where the rat came from,
into a small room. There is a fountain here that for once, does *not* hold a
secret. In the southwest corner, facing west, is a niche with a major mana
potion. In the same square, facing south, is a rat hole in which you see a Major
Healing Potion. Leave this room and head east, stopping one square before the
wall at the end.
YOu'll ontice a frost trap sporadically spitting bolts across the corridor in
front of you. There is no need to soak up damage here, as the Immunity spell
(Injury - Mind - Concentration) will protect you against this trap for 12
seconds. Cast it, then step in. Advance to where the ice bolts spit from, the
head into the east passage at the end. The three wall niches up to that point
can be ducked into to avoid the projectiles, but Immunity makes that
unnecessary. Head all the way east from the frost trap, then turn north first.
The telltale squeaking warns of two rats in there, which may come to you, or you
may need to come to them first (head north and turn left, and they will come one
after the other from a rat hole). Kill them off with whatever melee or spells
you prefer (10, 11). The rat hole they come from has no items, but the opposing
east wall has a lever that opens the gate just to the south of it. Open the
gate, but don't go in yet - follow the corridor to its south end first. It's a
dead end, but a discolored rock on the east side of the wall opens a secret
compartment to your west (secret 2) that holds a Major Healing Potion and a
Stamina Potion.
With everything collected, now go through the opened gate to the east. There are
closed bars locking in a square in front of you, and on the three walls on each
north, east and south sides, you'll notice three different locks. As you might
surmise, you'll need to unlock all three to open those bars. Passages lead off
to the north, east and south, all leading to one of the keys you need to proceed
here. Let's start with the north section.
Follow the passage until it splits, then head north first. There is a dead end
with a rat hole. A rat will attack here, kill him the usual way (12). Then poke
around in the rat hole, inside is a Fighter's Ring (+25% critical hit chance).
Up to you if you want to equip that, it's actually the second time you're
finding one, after chapter 6. Either way, explore further to the east, where
another rat you will hear before you see him attacks you in the corridors, take
him out (13). Mapping out the passages, you'll find the one farthest to the east
holds a Mining Hammer, and around the corner in the east wall, a rat hole
holding a Crystal and an Iron Key. It's easy to miss that key and if you do,
you're in good company - I was stuck on this part for the majority of 2019 due
to missing that one key. When you have the key, you're done in this section, so
return to the tri-locked gate and stick your iron key in its lock. Next head to
the east section.
The wall here reads "Flashback". On the opposite side of this wall, you'll
notice three spike traps in a row. On the west wall is a button that closed the
pit traps, but very briefly, short enough that you don't even have time to turn
around to face the trap doors before they open again. The way through - do save
your game first - is to face the button on the west wall, hit it and then
immediately run backwards without stopping. If you were quick enough, you clear
all three trap doors and hit the far wall. Save again. Beyond here is a zombie
wizard, so you want to have a spell with a crystal ready on your spell grid
again to do proper damage. You can see the wizard across the cauldron, but your
spells can't hit him - you'll need to move around the cauldron (time it right
because two floor tiles here spit fire at you every so often) and move to engage
him, then use a crystal-enhanced spell (I like Freezeball but it's your choice)
to take him out (15). He drops a Silver Key and a Crystal.
There's more loot here: in the northern part of the room is a chest holding a
Rune of Concentration and a Scroll of Thunder, a spell using Concentration -
Lightning - Lightning - Concentration for 13-27 lightning damage and a 25% stun
chance to one target, as well as the usual +75% damage for lightning damage if
the target is frozen. But I prefer Gale over this one, as two Concentration
runes is a little much to avoid breaking up other spells for it, the same
problem Fire Wall presents. And there's more loot still, the niche on the south
side of this room has a suspicious wall tile on the east, it slides open to
reveal a Stamina Potion (secret 3). Then finally the niche on the east end of
the room (careful of the fiery floor, once more) has a Deadly Blade, 31-36
damage for 24 stamina, with a 15% increased critical chance. All around more
efficient than the Hatchet and damaging enough that I'd go with this one.
Time to get out of here, but you need not worry about those quick closing pit
traps again - due west of the cauldron is a teleporter that warps you right to
the other side of them again, after which you can walk back to the tri-locked
gate and this time use your new silver key to unlock the second lock. This
actually opens the bars, but there is nothing behind them yet. Instead, head
into the south passage for the third key.
This passage leads into a larger room with gates on the four corners and a set
of bars on the east wall, with a pressure plate in front of it. The pressure
plate opens the bars, but unfortunately, it also opens the four gates and
reveals a zombie behind each one of them. Save before stepping on the pressure
plate, run through the opened gate and turn around. The closest two zombies will
attack first, and your magic and your new Deadly Blade will have to carry you
through (16, 17). You can proabably sit here and heal/use potions before you
head back into the room to trigger the two farther zombies also. Kill them too
(18, 19). You can use crystals on your spells if you want a little extra oomph
for this battle, but since these zombies are not spellcasters, the difference is
only slight.
With everybody dead, look in the east niche again and collect the Golden Key
that you'd probably already seen. The door into the room is closed - it did so
when you triggered the zombie attack - but each of the four niches the zombies
came from has a button inside. Hit all four buttons and the exit door opens
again. Head back to the tri-locked gate and unlock the final lock with this key.
The teleporter just around activates. Step into the teleporter to be transported
to a new area on floor 2. In this new area, the pressure plate opens the gate in
front of you, but first turn right and head around to see a lone zombie
shambling toward you. Take him down (20). Behind him is a stone you should bring
alone. A similar passage runs on the other side if you turn left from the
pressure plate, having no zombie but another stone. You can then return to the
pressure plate and head in, you can weigh down the pressure plate if you like,
but you won't be returning here anyway.
The next two pressure plates can't be weighed down, but only respond to stepping
on them. Step on the first plate and spikes jump out in front of you. Wait for
them to retract, then step on the second plate. Stand still, as it does the same
thing as the previous one, but on a delay this time. Only when you've seen
spikes jump out in front of you and retract again is it safe to step forward
another tile. In front of you is another pressure plate, closed bars behind it,
and spikes coming out of the wall over the plate every so often. As soon as they
retract, step forward onto the pressure plate - nothing happens right away, but
wait for the gate to open, then hurriedly go through, as the spikes are about to
come again.
Go around the corner. the passage leads only one way, with some floor tiles have
flames jump out sporadically. Pass through. timing your steps such that you
avoid the flames. The first is easy, but the second has to right next to each
other. Wait for the first to stop burning first, then for the second to stop,
and then quickly run over both of them. Not much time before the first burns
again, but even if it briefly tags you, you'll survive. Go around the corner
again and walk up to the pressure plates. Stepping on the plates alternately
opens and closes the gate in front of you. It will also let a rat out, so kill
him (21). Then notice that the *first* pressure plate does nothing, but 2, 3 and
4 alternate the gate between closed and open. If 4 closes the gate in front of
you, back off to the first pressure plate, and then go up to the fourth again,
so that this time you can pass through. Round the corner and another rat
attacks,you know what to do (22).
Follow the passage to the apparent dead end, turn east and notice a pressure
plate there. Toss two small items (such as the stones you picked up at the start
of this section) through to weigh it down and open the bars to the south. Head
through. You can turn east to pull a lever and open bars that let you get back
to the beginning of the section, if you like. But your destination lies west. If
you round the corner there, you'll find a similar lever opening up the north end
of the section, again unnecessary. Where you want to go is further west, to a
closed gate, with the sound of a fountain running behind it, and a lever on the
north wall that opens the gate. The 3x3 room behind it has the fountain you
heard, hidden inside is a Crystal (secret 4. the final one). You'll notice the
various bars here have signs next to them indicating the purpose of each area.
Where you came from is the Experimental Labyrinth. To the north, quite
inacessible, is the Mine. To the west, with a lever to open it, is the
Laboratory. You may remember that in chapter 7 you *were* in the Mine and there
was an inaccessible passage to Watrys' Laboratory. You're now on the other side
of that passage - pull the lever in the northwest corner, save your game and
head west into the Labyrinth.
As you enter, you will encounter Watrys, who offers you a chance to escape with
your life. Your hero makes the choice for you - unsurprisingly, it's a no.
Watrys teleports out, leaving you to explore the room. Head around the spike
traps. At the far end, protected by a floor spouting occasional fire on both the
west and the east side, are two zombie wizards, both of which *can* summon
regular zombies into the battle also. I prefer to draw one out by heading across
a fiery floor tile and then quickly back. The other will probably follow, but
you will have a better chance to kill one quickly before you get overwhelmed.
You'll need to deal with both (23-24, the final kills) plus whatever regular
zombies they bring in (not counted as kills for the tally). Work quickly, which
in this case means have your favorite crystal spell ready, have spare crystals
in your quickbar so the crystal on your spell grid gets automatically replaced
after each casting, and expect to need some potions also. Remember that against
the wizards, only your crystal enhanced spell is worth using, whereas against
the regular zombies you can use melee attacks and unenhanced spells, and you
want to consider damage over time spells like Gale to prevent them from
self-healing.
The zombie wizards drop two Gem Encrusted Keys, which are needed to open the
door to Watrys' tower on the west wall. There's also four Crystals in niches on
the north and south walls, to replace the ones you will definitely use here.
When you are done here, open the door to Watry's tower and use the teleporter to
complete the chapter. You should be level 10 now.
----------------------------------------------
Chapter 10 (3 secrets, 18 enemies, 2 children)
----------------------------------------------
You start on the west end, on floor 2.Advance east to the iron bars and pull the
switch on your left to open the bars. Proceeding, you find a pit trap and stairs
leading down to the same space that falling into the pit drops you in, this
being floor 1. There is nothing of interest down there, you have to get past the
pit trap to proceed. To do, toss a small item over the pit trap as far as you
can get it, which is two spaces beyond the pit trap. There's a pressure plate
there, throwing an item on it will close the pit trap so you can proceed.
Follow the passage further to another pit trap and pressure plate, this one on
your side. Standing on it closes the trap door, but getting off it will open it
again, so you *will* fall into the pit, unless you put an item on the pressure
plate again (you can use the same one, if you retrieve it from the previous
pressure plate). There's a torch on the wall you can grab afterwards, if you
like. Proceed to the next room.
The next room has a line of spike traps, and a pressure plate. Weighing this one
down will open a gate at the far end of the room, but the spike trap remains.
However, three spaces east of here is the pressure plate that *does* close this
one pit trap. What you do is put an item on the pressure plate, face east (in
the direction of the spikes), then toss an item over as far as you can. This
will hit the pressure plate, close the pit trap and let you pass. Proceed
further east into the next room.
On the east end of this room are more bars, and a wall switch on both sides of
it. Pull both of the switches, then quickly proceed through the bars (as they
will close again after a few seconds). If you manage to get stuck between the
two gates, there is a switch on the wall that will open the one behind you
again, so you can back out and try the sequence anew. If you get through both,
you get to a short corridor leading north and south.
The south end of this corridor ends at a closed gate with an iron lock. The
north end is barred also, however, on the floor just beyond the bars lies the
iron key you need. Pick that up through the bars, then take the corridor south
and unlock the iron lock, so that you can proceed.
On the other side is a small 2x2 room with a fountain (that contains no secret
this time) and a pressure plate in front of a gate. This one can't be weighed
down with an item, it responds only to you stepping on it. Doing so opens the
second gate, but not the first one, but you can then toss a small item through
the bars to land on another pressure plate, opening the first gate.
Unfortunately, doing so also closes the second gate again. Step back off the
first pressure plate and forward again, and this will open the second gate
another time. Now proceed one step through it.
There is another pressure plate in front of you and the side passages to the
left and right. Do not step on the pressure plate, as it will activate
projectile traps. Instead, weigh it down with another item, triggering the
projectiles once to pass harmlessly in front of you. Step forward yourself once
they are past. Go further east to a large room. Before going inside, save your
game. There are two guards in there and the door closes behind you as you enter,
so be ready for a fight. The guards on this floor are a bit tougher again nand
you can't break these two up, nor back out again, so you may want to cast a good
spell and then flee to the left or right. There is some risk that they will
surround you, so get one down with magic and melee as soon as possible. Then the
other one is more easy to sidestep around, forcing him to keep moving instead of
attacking. Kill them both (1, 2). One drops a Golden Key.
In the southeast corner of this room is a Stamina Potion behind bars that you
can't take. To raise these bars, head to the northwest corner of the room and
face south. On the pillar on the top left of your view, you'll notice a button.
hit that to open those bars (secret 1) so you can collect a stamina potion. Two
more secrets of the same kind will show up later in this chapter.
Proceed east. In the easternmost, narrower part of the room, are two pressure
plates. These become significant later, ignore them for now. Proceed to another
corridor running north and south. At the south end is a closed door with a
silver lock, so head north for now. the corridor ends into a larger room with a
statue in the middle and four sets of stairs on the east, two leading down, two
leading up. You'll hear the telltale sound of whimpering imprisoned children
nearby. In the northwest corner of the room, on the north wall, is a niche with
a Major Mana Potion. In the southwest corner, on the west wall, is a Crystal
siting in a niche. Collect those two items.
There's a secret here also: stand just west of he statue, facing south, and
you'll see another button o the pillar on the right side of your view. This one
opens up a small passage to the southwest of the room with a chest in it. In
here is a Scroll of Ice Shield, a spell using Mind - Frost - Heart - Ground -
Concentration to provide full immunity to physical and magical attacks for 15
seconds, but at the cost of being unable to attack. I have not found a use for
this in what little game remains.
With all this done, save and start going down the southernmost stairs, to floor
1. The room you end up in has guards in it, that will not be alerted until you
step forward. When ready, do so. Let the two guards come to you and kill them
with magic and/or melee, bearing in mind that you can flee back up the stairs if
things get dicey, and they'll patiently wait down there for you to come back and
finish them off (3, 4). One guards drops an Iron Key, the other a Steel Dagger.
At 22-24 damage per 16 stamina and with a +6 bonus to Dexterity, it's not a bad
weapon, but not an upgrade either. I tend to stick with the Deadly Blade.
On the other end of the room is a jail cell with two children, and a switch to
open the cell. Set the boys free (child 1 and 2). They are as far as I know the
only children to be rescued in this final chapter. Take the north staircase out
of here again to end back up on floor 2, and you'll find that both staircases
leading down have been taken care of. Take the second staircase from the south
now, this one leading up to floor 3.
You end up in a small room with an iron lock. Use the iron key you just got off
the guards to open a gate, behind which are merely 4 large stones. Take them,
you will need 4 such stones soon (though you may have already taken enough with
you from previous chapters). The other door cannot be opened yet, so go back
down the stairs. Back on floor 2, take the northernmost stairs up.
In this new floor 3 room, the hero exchanges a few words with a guard, who
quickly sounds the alarm and then drops a wall in front of where he is. You
won't ever be able to open that, but that alarm does mean there'll be more
enemies to fight when you go back down the stairs. For now, look around this
room. On the desk is a Silver Key you should take. in the northeast corner is a
locked cupboard, which you can open with the Golden Key you got off the first
two guards you killed in this chapter. Inside is a Crystal and a suit of King's
Armor, which provides +12 armor. I'd replace the Diamond Armor with it, which
only has +8 armor, though you lose its +5 to Strength.
Save before heading down the stairs again. Thanks to the alarm having been
raised, you have two guards attacking you from two directions at once. Deal with
them (5, 6), bearing in mind you can flee right back up the stairs to heal or
regain stamina if necessary. They don't follow. Head back south down the
corridor, all the way to the south end, and unlock the silver lock with the key
you got off the desk. Two guards will jump you from the other side of the door,
you probably have to back up north during the fight, all the way to the safety
of the staircases if you must. Either way, kill them (7, 8). Once they're dead,
head through the previously silver locked door to find a third guard in there
who didn't rush out. Kill him also (9). Finally take a look around in this small
room. Stairs lead up from the east, but there's two more things here first. The
northwest corner has a lever that opens the bars just south of there, revealing
the most powerful weapon in the game: a battle axe that deals 25-75 damage at 40
stamina per attack. The highest cost yet, but by far the highest damage also, so
I'd go with this as your final weapon. Then, head to the middle square on the
north wall and see another button on the pillar on the right side of your view.
Touch it to open the wall (secret 3, the final one) and follow the passage to a
staircase leading down.
In this secret room are two boxes that can be destroyed with melee strikes. One
box holds a Golden Necklace giving +4 to Strength. But that's the second one you
are finding after you found one in chapter 7, and you may in fact be wearing it.
The other box holds a Major Mana Potion and a Stamina Potion. Nothing else here,
so take the stairs back up and this time take the stairs up in the east of the
room to the next part of the chapter.
In this new section of floor 3, take the corridor north to a room with two
guards who'll come out to attack you. Your new Battle Axe probably makes it a
little easier than before, though it's a real stamina hog and you may want to
dip into the relevant potions, you likely have plenty and won't need them much
longer. To the north of the room is a lever that opens the door - a shortcut to
before, as this is the door you earlier weren't able to open from the other
side. The room itself has iron bars blocking a staircase up to the east, and on
the west it has two pits and a sign in between telling you to use weights if the
doorman is not around. He's not, you killed him on your way here. These pit
traps lead to the pressure plates I told you to ignore earlier. You *can* drop
down into one of the pits, put weights on them and then come back here, but it's
far easier to just items into the pit traps without falling in yourself. You
want to put two large stones in each pit - how fortunate then that you found
four large stones earlier in the chapter. With these in place, the bars will
rise and you can take the stairs to the east up to floor 4.
Just east of the staircase is a large room. The first three columns all have
projectile traps on both sides and the fourth column has two doors, and a
conspicious button. Pressing the button will start all of the traps firing,
*and* open the doors and bring in many guards. Rather more guards than you want
to fight on your own, so here's what to do: walk up to the button, but don't
press it yet. Save first. Then, cast Immunity (Injury - Mind - Concentration) to
make you immune to the traps. Finally, hit the button and immediately retreat
west, out of the room, stopping just before the stairs. Then turn around to face
the room and watch the fireworks happen, as the guards run in, trying to reach
you, and all get killed by the traps. You're getting 8 free kills and full
experience here (10-17). That leaves just one enemy to kill - wonder who that's
going to be? Recast immunity as you run through the traps again to the
easternmost part of the room. Pressing the button again will stop the traps, and
let you collect the many potions the guards dropped. There will be 2 Stamina, 2
Major Healing and 2 Mana Potions. After this, you need to get to the button
again and activate the traps once more, because the doors you need to go through
are only open so long as the traps are on.
First go to the southeast corner of the room. Through the door is a smaller side
room. On the west wall is a cupboard holding a Crystal and a Major Mana Potion.
In the southeast corner is a lever that will open the bars just west of it and
allow you to collect two more Crystals. Now move on to the side room at the
northeast corner of the large room. The sign here reads "Lord Watrys' chambers",
and the stairs lead straight into the final boss encounter.So don't rush up,
first check your inventory. Have your best gear equipped - preferring items that
boost magic over melee - and put your best potions and your crystals in your
quick slots. Save your game, then head up. You will face Watrys as the final
boss. He moves around a large square area with some open pits. Falling in a pit
will put you back in the area where there are now traps shooting spells and
likely get you killed, so try not to step in one. Watrys can use various
damaging spells, including ice projectiles and setting tiles on fire, so you
want to move if he does that to the tile you are standing on.
The main issue with Watrys is that he blocks most physical attacks and
unenhanced magic does nearly no damage to him thanks to his high magical
resistance - same as with the zombie wizards you faced before. You also can't
run down the stairs to heal and then back up to continue the fight, as he heals
fully whenever you leave the floor. What you want to use is spells boosted with
crystals, which negates his magic resistance and lets them do proper damage.
Fire Blast got the job done fine. Thus enhanced, Fire Blast does enough damage
that only a few castings will take him out. In between, either side step or run
around the room to avoid counterattacks. A side step may not prevent all damage,
as he does use at least one area of effect spell that may still hit you. Keeping
your best health and mana potions (and stamina if you are using melee attacks)
in your quickbar is a good idea. This is the last battle, so use whatever you
need.
The Silence spell also works and renders Watrys harmless, but only for a short
while. He'll keep trying and failing to cast. I'd set this one up on your spell
grid and have it ready if you need to buy a little breathing room to heal. The
Immunity spell also protects you from Watrys' magic, but it's again temporary.
Freezeball can be used instead of Fire Blast, but I don't find it worth using.
Watrys does not appear to ever be frozen by it, thus also not triggering any
special weakness to lightning. Without that effect, Fire Blast is more damaging.
When he is down to about half health, Watrys may summon one or two spiders,
which can be dodged or killed with Fire Blast also (no crystal needed here). If
you kill Watrys quickly with enhanced spells, though, he might not even get to
doing this. He does not appear to ever heal himself, except if you leave the
floor.
Upon the death of Watrys (18), you win immediately. Beating the game gives a
brief ending that seems unaffected by the use of magic crystals, in spite of the
game's implications that that may have a negative effect on you. You also do not
get a chapter 10 summary of secrets found, enemies killed and children rescued -
the 3 secrets, 18 enemies and 2 children I mentioned should be all, though.
After the game's brief closing words, you're back in the menu. Good work!
===============================================================================
[3] SPELLS
===============================================================================
General note: all spells can be cast at any time you have all the runes. It is
not necessary to hold or even find the scroll that explains the runes to be used
and the effect of the spell, so long as you know the right combination. Each
spell is cast by opening up the spell menu and dragging a line through all the
runes of the spell, then lifting the stylus. The right runes need to touch
horizontally or vertically. Either works, and you can even trace around a corner
if you like (later on, it will be a challenge to find enough space for all the
spells you want to prepare). Finally, Crystals can be put on the spell grid just
like runes. A damaging spell can be pumped up further by putting the Crystals
just after the runes, and then including that in the casting, e.g. Levitation -
Frost - Injury - Crystal is a slightly powered up Frost Bolts. Against most
enemies, the effect is slight, but against magic using enemies, this completely
breaks their normally high magic resistance and makes them take full damage from
the spell.
The spells are as follows:
Light (Fire - Fire) - temporarily lights up the area, essentially the same as
carrying a torch. Needs recasting periodically, but it's cheap. Using this spell
will make torches irrelevant. This is obtained in chapter 2.
Fireball (Levitation - Fire - Injury) Ranged fire-based attack spell, can be
used as a ranged weapon and can pass through bars, potentially letting you snipe
at enemies that cannot strike back. This is obtained in chapter 2.
Healing (Heart - Concentration) Heals some hit points. Note that the Heart rune
has a longer cooldown than the Concentration rune. When you get a second Heart
rune, it's worth it to put one before the Concentrate rune and one above it, so
you can alternate casting them as the Concentrate rune becomes available again,
letting you follow up your Healing spell more quickly. This is obtained in
chapter 2.
Transmutation (Heart - Mana - Injury) Sacrifice a few hit points to recharge
your magic points. In theory a good move, as you can simply heal your damage
again and come out ahead. But I never really found a use for this, as mana
recharges quickly enough outside of combat, and inside combat, things tends to
be a bit too hectic to risk this. This is obtained in chapter 3.
Frost Bolt (Levitation - Frost - Injury) Ranged ice-based attack spell. The
cooldown on Frost is a little better than on Fire, letting you follow up these
attacks slightly more quickly. Otherwise, it rides on whether an enemy is
specifically resistance to either ice or fire as to which of the two you should
be using. I tend to go with Frost Bolt as my default. This is obtained in
chapter 3.
Freeze (Frost - Time - Frost - Injury) Temporarily freezes an enemy in place,
stopping their attacks and movement, and also deals minor frost damage.
Furthermore, some spells can do increased damage while the target is frozen.
Although you get the scroll for this spell in chapter 3, you will be short one
Frost rune to cast it until chapter 4.
Lightning Strike (Levitation - Lightning - Levitation) Ranged lightning-based
attack spell, dealing 10-25 damage and an extra 75% if the enemy is frozen,
making this work beautifully combined with the Freeze spell. Otherwise, it is
relevant to have this element to fall back on if an enemy is resistant to fire
and/or ice damage. This is obtained in chapter 4.
Burning (Fire - Extension - Injury) - deal 9 damage every 3 seconds for 12
seconds. Essentially it sets the enemy on fire and over time deals a total of
4x9=36 damage to it. It's fairly mana efficient, actually. You get the scroll in
chapter 4 (though it's a secret tricky to get to), but you will not have have
the necessary runes until chapter 6.
Stun (Time - Frost - Injury) - stuns a target for 7 seconds, the same thing
Freeze does, minus the damage and the lightning vulnerability that spell offers.
I've never found much use for this. You obtain the scroll in chapter 5, at which
point you already have the right runes.
Concentration (Fire - Heart - Mind - Concentration) Reduces Health by 30 and
grants 10 Intelligence for 60 seconds, buffing your mana reserves and spell
damage at the cost of making you more vulnerable. It's a trade off,
non-essential but possibly of interest. You obtain the scroll in chapter 5, but
you will not have the Mind rune until chapter 6.
Fireblast (Levitation - Fire - Fire - Extension - Injury) Deals 20-40 fire
damage instantly and then adds more fire damage over a period of 10 seconds. A
powerful fire spell that keeps being useful throughout the rest of the game, it
was my favorite to use on the final boss also. You obtain the scroll and the
last required rune on chapter 6.
Immunity (Injury - Mind - Concentration) Protects against spells for 12 seconds.
There aren't many dangerous magic using enemies in the game, so I find the
usefulness of this to be somewhat limited. You obtain the scroll behind a secret
door in chapter 6, alongside the final rune (Mind) needed to use it.
Cure (Heart - Extension - Concentration) Restore 4 health every 3 seconds for 30
seconds (10 ticks, 40 health total). You find this scroll in chapter 6,
technically you can already use this spell after finding the Extension rune
slightly earlier in that chapter. It's a different approach to healing from the
Healing spell. I didn't use it much, myself.
Frost Field (Frost - Frost - Frost - Ground) Deep-freezes a target field for 8
seconds. Essentially, the enemy in front of you will take unspecified cold
damage and freeze in place, also temporarily making them weaker to lightning
magic. Unlike Freeze, it is not a projectile spell, but it feels like it does
more damage. Critically, there is no long recovery Time rune in it either, so I
prefer to use this to set enemies up for lightning damage. Ground recovers aftre
13 seconds, while Time takes 19, so Frost Fields can be followed up more
quickly. You find the scroll and the necessary runes in chapter 7.
Gale (Lightning - Lightning - Lightning - Ground) Deals 12 lightning damage to
whatever's in the tile right in front of you four times with 4 seconds in
between (so right away, then at 4 seconds, 8 seconds and finally at 12 seconds),
increased by 75% (to 21 damage) if the target is frozen. After which it can be
recast almost immediately, as Ground is the slowest rune in this spell to come
available again, after 13 seconds. The only issue is you have only the one
Ground rune at first, making combining it with Frost Field impossible, but it
can be done with Freeze. You get this spell and its runes in chapter 7.
Fire Field (Fire - Fire - Fire - Ground) According to the game, "Deals 9 damage
on a field right in front of you over 9 seconds." That is not correct, it's not
9 damage total, the damage seems to tick 5 times, for in my experience 4 damage
per tick, so a total of 20 - while keeping the enemy from attacking or healing
because he keeps taking damage. Against enemies that are affected by fire, such
as zombies, this is very welcome. You will find the scroll for this in chapter
8, but you've actually been able to cast it from chapter 7 onwards, as soon as
you had the necessary runes.
Silence (Mind - Frost - Mana - Injury) Keeps a target from using magic for 9
seconds. It works on all enemies capable of casting spells, of which there
aren't many, but this includes the final boss. Due to it being situational, it's
not something I tend to keep around, but it can be useful when fighting magic
wielding zombies or indeed Watrys. You find the scroll for this on chapter 8,
but you've actually had the runes since chapter 6 - just not any enemies worth
using this on.
Freezeball (Levitation - Frost - Frost - Extension - Injury) Ice projectile
dealing 20-35 cold damage with a 25% chance to freeze the target. The scroll is
found in chapter 8, though you'll have the runes since chapter 6.
Fire Wall (Levitation - Fire - Fire - Fire - Levitation) Fire magic dealing
20-65 fire damage to the square right in front of you. You obtain the scroll in
chapter 9, but you have the runes together as early as chapter 5.
Thunder (Concentration - Lightning - Lightning - Concentration) 13-27 damage and
25% chance to Stun one target. Like other lightning spells, this deals 75% extra
damage if the target is frozen. You obtain the scroll in chapter 9, but you'll
have had the runes for this since chapter 7.
Ice Shield (Mind - Frost - Heart - Ground - Concentrate) Full immunity to
physical and magical damage for 15 seconds, at the cost of being unable to
attack or cast spells. I haven't really found a suitable situation for this one.
You obtain the scroll in chapter 10, but you'll have had the runes since chapter
7.
===============================================================================
[4] REVISION HISTORY
===============================================================================
v1.0: (15 Dec 2019): First version of the guide.
In future updates, I may add information on the differences between difficuly
levels (it already looks like the puzzles aren't changed in any way, so
presumably it's just the combat), and may go more in depth on controls.
===============================================================================
[5] FINAL WORDS
===============================================================================
It's been a decade since my last update on my most recent FAQ before this, for
Sid Meier's Pirates. I had not necessarily planned to write more, until I came
across the Keep, and realized no full walkthrough was to be found anywhere. This
was especially painful as I got stuck in chapter 9, and unable to find any help.
The fact that the game is opscure, and "The Keep" is a lousy search term, did
not help. But I did find loose hints for various puzzles in the game, a full
overview of secrets (by kujo on Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1128126812) and a Let's
Play of the PC version (by Gwyrr Play on YOuTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPeU9s6SjHujAeEKUz-FQNA/search?query=keep -
this one's in German, but even if you don't speak the language, you'll still be
able to see what he's doing). All in all, I felt that this game needed all this
information brought together into a full guide, and since nobody had yet, it
might as well be me. So here we are. I know from experience that no matter how
obscure the game, there is always going to be *someone* reading the guide. If
that someone is you, thank you, and I hope this guide has been in any way useful
to you.
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2019. All rights
reserved. Disclaimer at top of document.
