## ### # # #### # # ##### # # ### #### ### ## # # # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # # # # #### # # # # #### # # # # # # ### #### ### ## # # # # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # # # # ### # #### # # # ### # # #### # # ## # ***************************************************************************** Adventurers FAQ/Walkthrough NEX Sphere Stationcom By: Joel Tolson - haffn@hotmail.com Version: 3.141592654 Copyright (c) 2002 Joel D. Tolson ***************************************************************************** -Notice- Feel free to use my guide. It was originally posted at adventurers.keenspace.com. All I ask is to give credit where credit is due and to not alter this guide in any imaginable way and please do not attempt to make a profit out of it. ***************************************************************************** ================= Table of Contents ================= I - Introduction II - Characters III - Getting Started IV - Walkthrough V - FAQ VI - Weapon Guide VII - Armor Guide VIII - Magic Guide IX - Tips, Hints, Secrets X - Game Genie, Game Shark, and Netscape codes XI - Rumors XII - Credits ***************************************************************************** ================== I - Introduction ================== ADVENTURERS! is one of those classic games. No RPG collection is complete without it. What more, the replay value is astounding. If you don't have this yet, go to your local adventurers.keenspace.com and get yourself a copy. For the true fan there is various merchandise available at most locations as well. ***************************************************************************** ================ II - Characters ================ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A) Main Characters !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Name: Karn Gender: Male Age: 19 Class: Fighter Race: Human Description: Karn is the starting character. One of the nice things about this game is that he will actually talk unlike other RPGS (such as Crono Trigger). He's good with a sword and can wear heavy armor. While unable to use magic he is a master with the sword, learning techniques seemingly out of nowhere. What more, as a fighter, he will be your bread and butter for most the game. He might seem at first to be a little dumb, if not nice, but further inspection will prove that he is in reality a little dumb. Be careful however. If you play this character too much you can get addicted to EXP. Skills/Spells: Jump-Strike, Stab, S. Strike, S. Attack, S. Spin, X-Strike, Whirlyblash, Hit-With-Sword, Multi-Stab, Slash, Jump.S, L.Slsh, M.Slsh, A.Strk, X-Prry, X-Slsh, X-Lksk, Dbl-Stab Name: Ardam Gender: Male Age: 17 Class: Mage Race: Human Description: First let me make this very clear. Ardam was NOT based on Vivi from Final Fantasy 9. Having said that, Ardam is the magic user of the group. And to augment his already awesome magic powers, he can summon monsters of great power to aid you in battle. Like any magic user, don't expect him to be good with a weapon. He is the practical one of the group, often times voicing concerns about their mission or the working of the word around him. You get the feeling that he would have fit right in with Socrates or Garfield. It isn't known if he is a Cyclops or if he just has long hair. Skills/Spells: Heal, Fire 1, Fire 3, Fire pi, Fire 50.3, Fire 239, Bolt, Wind, Water, Slow, Slow-All, Scan, Vanish, Undimension, De-Lificate, Plasmanova, Armageddon Beam, Heaven's Justice, Teleport, Flamasi(Summon), Poseidon(Summon), Holysrpnt(Summon), Electrial(Summon), Mother Nature(Summon), Spacedragon(Summon) Name: Drecker Gender: Male (who wears ear rings) Age: 12 Class: Thief Race: Human Description: Another staple class of the RPG world. He knows neither magic nor sword play. Relatively weak but his stealing abilities more than make up for that. You never know what goodies monsters are walking around with. Since he starts with only one skill at only gains one more through the game, a lot of humors have been going around that he has hidden abilities. I cover that more in the rumors section. Skills/Spells: Steal, Mug Name: Karashi Gender: Female Age: 21 Class: Ninja Race: Human Description: Not exactly what you would expect from the average RPG female. For one, she can't use magic. Also she is quite powerful. Her stylin' ninja moves will save the day on more than one occasion. Perhaps one of the most world wise characters. Drecker and herself are quite close through most of the game. Skills/Spells: 2X-Slice, Ninja-Attack, Ninja-Escape, Ninja-Turtles Name: Gildward Gender: Female... I mean male Age: 18 Class: Bard Race: Human Description: One has to wonder why programmers continue to include the bard class in games when there has yet to be a character that people like to play. Since only 3.4 characters can be in the active group at any given time, Gildward will be sitting the bench a lot. It isn't so much that he is terrible just that he is a bard. Ironically, he is a major plot character and as such there are many times when you will be forced to include him in your party. He also has an arch enemy but telling who would be a spoiler. Skills/Spells: Melody of Finite, Concerto Crash, Hide, Confusion Waltz, Berserker Ballad, Slow Dance, Celestial Disco, Rap Name: Tesla Gender: Female Age: 19 Class: Tracker Race: Human Description: What self respecting RPG wouldn't include guns in a world of swords and sorcery? Tesla suffers from a late appearance but makes up for it in her gun-ny prowess. One of the more intelligent characters, she will often make important commentary. You would be well to listen to her. While her high-powered firearm weapons aren't very powerful, they are range weapons so you can put her in the back row without worrying about losing attack power. Skills/Spells: Aimshot, Shoot-Things, Bullet Barrage, Bang-Attack, Gun-Throw Name: Spybot 5000 Gender: Neutral Age: 2 years (4 if you count R&D) Class: Double Agent Race: Robot Description: This character brings a tear to my eye. Fond, fond memories of Crono Trigger. True, Spybot isn't as endearing as Robo, but he makes up for it in other ways. His fully name is Evil Killer Death Spybot 5000 and he is your source for all things robot-y. Sings pop songs in his spare time (and as such has spawned several rumors, covered in the Rumor section, that he can use some of those songs as an attack). Skills/Spells: None Standard Name: Chookie Gender: I have no idea. Anyone want to field this one? Age: 420 years Class: Useless Cute Thing / Bare Fisted Boxer Race: Chookalophagaphamus Description: Um... he's cute? He is furry, I will give him that. And he is a specialist at bare fisted attacks. What can I say; everything these days needs a cute thing. This dates way back to the Dragon Warrior games. Few things are cuter than a slime. Skills/Spells: Chookie Punch, Chookie Strike, Chookie Fury, Death Hairball, Atomic Shedding, Nausea-Inducing-Cuteness !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B) Hidden Characters !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Name: Webrunner Gender: Male Age: Unknown (20ish?) Class: Game Creator/Designer/Producer/Staff and Author Race: Human Description: The games creator makes a cameo appearance in the game itself. This sort of thing is usually reserved for the infamous "designers" secret ending that some games have in which you can go around talking to characters representing the games designers and the sort. However considering that this game only has one designer that would be a very small ending. As such he is an actual party member. I will cover how to get him in the secrets section. Skills/Spells: Spoon of Justice, Eraser, Blue Screen of Death, Computer of Binary Might, Paper Cut, 5 Days A Week Posting, Punch Line of Fistiness, Cartoonist(Summon), Merchandise of Money, Ian J.(Summon), Keenspace(Summon), Cow Catapult, Dust Bunny Swarm, Ultimor, Flare log13, Spork of Orangeness, Lint Trap of Dryer, Doctor of Pepper, Starsomething(Summon) ***************************************************************************** ===================== III - Getting Started ===================== Step 1: Get the game Step 2: Open Package Step 3: Insert game into the system Step 4: Turn on System Step 5a: Start a New Game Step 5b: Continue Saved Game !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Troubleshooting: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Black Screen - Turn on TV - Turn on CORRECT TV - Plug in TV - Pay electric bills - Static - Turn to the correct channel - Connect system - Turn on the System - No Sound - Turn up the volume - Un mute the TV - Take out your ear plugs - Turn down your stereo - Turn on your Stereo !!!!!!!!!! Controller !!!!!!!!!! ____________________________________________________ | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _________ | ||`||1||2||3||4||5||6||7||8||9||0||-||=||backspace| | | - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------- | | ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ________ | ||tab||q||w||e||r||t||y||u||i||o||p||[||]|| \ || | --- - - - - - - - - - - - - -------- | | ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __________ | ||Caps||a||s||d||f||g||h||j||k||l||;||'|| Enter || | ---- - - - - - - - - - - - ---------- | | _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____________ | ||Shift||z||x||c||v||b||n||m||,||.||/||Shift| || | ----- - - - - - - - - - - ------------ | | ____ ____ ________________ ________ _________ | ||Ctrl||alt || || Alt || Ctrl || | ---- ---- ---------------- -------- ----------| |___________________________________________________| || ______||_ | | | | | | |___|____| | | | | | | | | | | --____-- You have a Keyboard and Mouse... Use them. ***************************************************************************** ================= IV - Walkthrough ================= !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1) And So It Begins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The story opens with Karn and Ardam strolling through a field. You actually have control at this point, though its very straight forward, you cross the field. To the east is a patch of long grass. You can fight rabbits in that area. Hard core RPGers can build a few levels there since it would be an act of God if they hit you and they yield some okay exp. Karn should be able to kill them in a hit or two. The short grass areas do not have any baddies. Just head north towards the mountains. There is a small valley in-between them that you have to enter, so do so. At this point get ready for a "boss" battle. I use quotes because it is unavoidable and progresses the story but the enemies, two Eye Stalkers, will appear later in the game as normal enemies. ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- *Eye Stalkers X2 EXP: 135 GP: 21 Items: None Weakness: None Resistance: Armageddon Beam Immunities: None Very straight forward here. They will ambush you no matter what you do so don't worry about it. But what ever you do, do not use Armageddon Beam. It sounds cool but notice how you have it to start the game with? It's a first level spell and does almost no damage in regular battles, and these guys are resistant to it. If you are lucky you might do 3 damage but expect 1 or 2. Just use normal attacks and you should beat them with no problem. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the battle you will find our heroes very surprised. Apparently monsters were wiped out from this particular region centuries ago (I guess bunny rabbits don't count as monsters even though the official strategy guide classifies them as such). It would seem that something very strange in happening. What could be causing monsters to appear in such a place? They quickly toss the question aside and continue on their journey. It is revealed that Ardam is making a journey to the temple of Flamasi to complete his training as a mage. Karn, who has been his friend from childhood, accompanies him. The temple is in a straight line from the opening of the valley and there are no more monsters for a while. Don't get too excited about the temple though. It too is in a straight line (seems like the dungeon designer wasn't too imaginative but I can't complain, makes my job as a Walkthrough Writer much simpler). At the back of the temple you will find a single puzzle, if you can even call it a puzzle. Colors will flash on the door, just touch them in the order they flashed. Go inside the room and talk to Flamasi. And now you have your first summon. Whooppidy do. He is powerful at this stage of the game but without a way to turn off the summon animation you wont be using him too often. I actually timed it once, took a full 3 minutes for the summon animation to be complete. Hope you had fun controlling the characters because that is the end of that for a while. The computer returns you to the field and takes you to the over world map. You will automatically be moved to a nearby village. Apparently concerned about the increase of monsters the party decides to investigate to see if it was an isolated incident or if something big is about to happen. Just search around the town and talk to everyone, as per RPG cannon. There is an INN here but not weapon, magic, or armor shops. If you inspect the stables you can find a wooden sword in the first stall on the left. Too bad you start the game equipped with the Wooden Sword. Before you can even start your inquiry the villagers will tell you about the Ancient Cave. Apparently it is full of monsters. Perhaps you had best go investigate. The cave is north. Don't ask me why its called the Ancient Cave. As far as my understanding of geology goes, all caves are ancient. Exit the town and head north. You can't miss the cave... literally. The cave is about 3 steps from town and takes up half the screen. Go inside and you will find yourself in a "maze". Just take all right turns whenever you have the chance. You will come across a key, +1 strength crystal, some random rocks, the Paper Sword, 5 potions, 3 ethers, 29 sets of newspaper hats (why so many? There aren't even 29 playable characters in the game... unless you believe all the rumors), and 9 empty cardboard boxes. The battles in here aren't that hard, but by the time you reach the stair I recommend double-checking your health and heal up with the lovely potions you found. The second floor is one large fractal pattern. Each branch will split into two new branches and each of those will branch into two more. So on and so on. If you don't take the correct path you can easily become totally and hopelessly lost. The correct path is right, left, right, right, right, right, left, left, left, left, right, left, left, right, right, left, left, left, left, right, right, right, left, right, left, right, right, left, left right, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, and then left. Be careful of the Crocomatisclaws on this level. They will ambush you a lot but luckily they have terrible aim. Take the stairs down and prepare for another boss battle. ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- *Giant Octopus HP: 401 MP: 900 EXP: 1273 GP: 100293 Items: None Weakness: None Resistance: None Immunities: None Look out for this guys mute attack. Ardam will be half of your attack power. If he gets muted, you are in for a long fight. Karn should swing away wildly and Ardam should cast spells, any spell will work. The Giant Octopus isn't that difficult. Once the battle is over get ready for a cut scene. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Karn will get knocked out in the Octopus' death spasms. A mysterious black figure enters the scene. Though Ardam tries to resist he is over powered and is dragged away down the stairs. The mysterious figure hangs him over a vat of acid and proceeds to explain things. He is responsible for the monsters. He is using the cave to harness magical power in order to create a magical blast that will knock the moon out of orbit. He then begins to lower Ardam into the acid when who should appear but Karn. Seeing his friend in danger he challenges the dark figure to battle. Here is a little secret. If you push the A and B buttons at the same time 42 times you will access a mini game. Boggle to be exact. Fun Fun. If you don't challenge the dark figure to boggle you will have to fight him. You now find out his name, Khrima. Don't worry, you can't loose. Just hit him a few times and he will run. You save Ardam and the cave is free of monsters now. Return to the village and they are so happy that they give you an air ship. Don't get too happy with the airship, you should know that its too early in the game to have one. Head west and you will come to another town with the original name of Town. Why head west? Because if you try to land anywhere else a flock of monsters will stop you. So enter the mechanical town of TOWN!. Right off the bat you will see a cut scene in which Karn and Ardam are mugged but they run away. Too bad, the experience would have been nice and they only had guns. The will run you to the outskirts of the town and you'll fall into a fissure. You are now in... da da DA!!!! The Cave of Cave-y Wonders! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2) Cave of Cave-y Wonders !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It isn't like you can just climb your way out again either. The cave starts to collapse upon you. The screen goes dark and when you awake you will find yourself trapped in a room with a treasure chest, a die-cast model airplane, and 100 lb of TNT. Get the treasure chest, inside is the Sword of Really Thin Aluminum Foil. Now take a look at the walls. On the north wall you will notice some unusual cracks. Push the TNT over and Ardam will cast "Fire". Unless you did some uncanny power leveling way back with the rabbits then Ardam doesn't actually know this spell yet but oh well. The wall will be no more (seems to me like it should have caused another cave in but oh well). Walk down the revealed passage and you will come to a large room. The exit is on the other side but there is a sword in the stone in the middle of the room. If you choose to pull it out you will get the Sword of Far Too Much Length. No one can use it but you can see it for scrap metal in the next town. The cave has no monsters and is just a straight line from there on out. You will pop out in the middle of a caravel. But it isn't any carnival, nope. Its full of, gasp, ZOMBIES! By now Ardam should know Heal so if you really want you can heal a zombie and he will turn back to a normal person. He will fight with you. However if during a battle he dies again he becomes a zombie again and you have to kill him again. You can only have one zombie friend at a time and you can't equip theme. As you fight your way out of the carnival you will find a few non-zombies. Apparently the zombies started attacking without warning. Look like another example of monsters appearing where there were no monsters before. Could Khrima be behind this incident too? You foiled his last attempt at destroying the world, maybe he is at it again. The towns people will give you a tank to destroy the zombies with. Does it remind anyone else of Golden Eye? Once the zombies are no more you will be able to enter the town that you got mugged in last time. And aren't you tired of only having two characters in your party? Guess what, you'll find all your items stolen (as well as Karn's cloths). The thief must be around town, look. If you don't want to, check the pub instead. The thief is there. You'll confront him and a battle will ensue. He will throw some knives but they will all miss. Once you defeat him he will tell you his story. Apparently at an early age he was kidnapped by an evil king and forced into a life of crime. Through daring deeds he was able to escape and now seeks to rid the world of evil (one has to wonder if that was his true intention then why did he continue to steal). Meet the third member of your party, the thief Drecker. Outside town you can encounter some Furristers. If you have Drecker steal from them there is a small chance that he will get a +1 Speed Crystal. But don't leave town just yet. Instead take a look at the inn. There is a bard there working the room. Talk to him and after a while he will ask to join your party. Say hello to Gildward the Bard. His defense is in the negatives and his special ability is singing. Joy. Toss him out of the party and go with Karn, Ardam, and Drecker for now. Don't forget to stock up on supplies and weapons. The armor shop has grass vests for sale. Unfortunately your airship was destroyed in the earthquake that caused the cave in. However the villagers offer you free transport to Ice Town. So off you go to Ice Town. The villagers there complain about monsters in the ice cave. Seems to be a lot of monsters in the world suddenly. Head north-northeast to reach the Ice Cave. Really, its like a tower only going down. Each room is round and the staircase is on the direct opposite side of the other one. You will find the Big Firey Red Flame Type Flame Sword, a spell book of fire spells, the scepter of Hot Burning Death, and the Dagger of Hades. Why would anyone put fire enchanted weapons in an ICE Cave is beyond me. At level 25 you will find the boss. ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- *Snow Cone Drake HP: 1,002 MP: 1,000,000,000 EXP: 6723 GP: pi Items: None Weakness: Fire Resistance: Water Immunities: Ice Don't let the bosses color throw you. For some reason the Snow Cone Drake is red. Personally I would expect an ice type dragon to be blue or some similar color but whatever. Karn should attack with his fire type sword, and Ardam should cast away with fire spells and switch to his staff when he runs out of MP. Drecker should only attack since there is nothing to steal. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congratulations, you cleared the Ice Cave. As soon as you get out of the cave SAVE! For some reason the game always seems to crash soon after. As you head back to town you will see a brief cut scene revolving mostly around Ardam. He really looks like Vivi from FF9 in this one. !!!!!!!!!! 3) Pay Off !!!!!!!!!! When you get back to town it seems that world of your exploits has spread. A rich nobleman in the area wants to see you. However the escorts turn out to be minions of a dark power. They throw your party into the Maze of Endless Reoccurring Repetion. There is a map on the first wall, make sure you take note. Go North, South, North, West, and you will come to a save point. Save and turn the game off. Now turn it back on. Load your game and head in any direction. You have solved the riddle of the Maze of Endless Reoccurring Repetition. And Cut-Scene time. Khrima is charging some orb in order to take over the area. Quickly, rush pass all the low exp monsters around. Or if you want you could have Gildward level up a little here, but even with these weak monsters, it will be a challenge. There will be a little hut on your way where you can rest up if you need to. If you need a laugh check out the TV. Khrima is doing a commercial for "Wing-B-Gone". Funny Stuff. But before you go on to stop Khrima its time for some side quest fun. To the north you will see a small village. If you visit it you will find that Khrima is killing any who would oppose him by boiling them alive in a large vat of sharks. No time to wonder how the sharks can survive if the water is boiling, you must save the towns people. It shouldn't be to hard, just ambush the guard that is controlling the unnecessarily slowly dipping mechanism. The battle that follows is easy stuff. Not even a boss battle. You will then proceed to save the villagers. They are so grateful that they will give you The Gold Sword! Okay, lets over look the fact that the gold sword isn't really that good. I mean Gold is a very soft mineral. But do not sell it for cash, you will need it later. At the far end of the village you will find an old crone who will sell you some magic pendants. However the price is 10,000,000 GP. It is possible, if you did a lot of power leveling, that you wont need to go hunt for cash. After you buy the pendants the crone will call up her granddaughter. Ever wonder how old crones can have such hot grandchildren? Anywho, talk to the granddaughter and you will discover that she is actually the human form of the mega summon, "Big Nasty Thing" but to get it you will have to fight her. Be prepared for a large battle. If you have trouble, skip ahead to the next side quest then come back. ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- *Big Nasty Thing HP: 3,000.987 MP: 1,000,000,000,000,000 EXP: 0 (hey, if you win you get to summon this. Isn't that reward enough?) GP: 0 Items: None Weakness: None Resistance: None Immunities: Magic Okay this does suck a little. All magic doesn't work on this guy. So you will be relying on Karn and Drecker. In theory you could switch Ardam for Gildward however Ardam will do more damage and Gildward's songs never work (or at least, I have yet to see a none script battle in which they do). Just whack away and use healing potions whenever you have need. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- After this battle head back outside and to the other side of the village. You will find an old man wondering around. He will try to start a fight with him. Do so. After you beat him he will teach Karn a lot of sword techniques. !!!!!!!!!!!! 4) Dictators !!!!!!!!!!!! The Kind of Torhol will ask your group for help. He is very vague on the matter and to my knowledge no one has ever actually found out what it is he wants. Its very strange. But as long as you have been summoned to the castle, check out the nearby town for items. In the weapon shop you will be able to purchased customized swords. Specifically, they will have Karn's name on them. While wielding one Karn's happiness will increase 3 points. Take care in the surrounding area. Dark Blue and Navy Blue Spectres inhabit this area. The Navy Blue one's absorb physical damage. Doesn't sound too difficult, does it? Except that unless you have a HDTV then you probably wont be able to tell the color difference. Damn palette switched monsters. A knight will show up before you get too far from town and will ask you to destroy the monster Thou in the nearby forest. There has been some speculation that this is the quest that the King of Torhol sends you on and that its due to a poor translation that the actual quest is lost. Take a look around, you will see an egg shaped forest to the south. Just walk around in the forest for a while and you will encounter the monster Thou. Its not really tough enough to be a boss battle but it is a unique enemy. Steal from it and you will get the Mr. Thou. It's a useless item but it alludes to Final Fantasy 3 (6J). Steal again and you will get the Crystal Sword. Look at that attack power. You'll need it. As you continue your quest you will have to make your way under the Muddled Mountains. As soon as you enter the cave you will encounter... ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- *A Giant, Cloaked, Glowing, Skeleton HP: 10,000 MP: 1,000,000,000,000,000,001 EXP: 50,000 GP: 0 (what use does a skeleton have for gold anywho?) Items: None Weakness: Crystal Sword Resistance: None Immunities: None Use the Crystal Sword against this guy, it does huge amounts of damage. The problem is that the sword has a 50 50 change of breaking after every use. You'll probably only get one or two hits in. Don't worry though, even one hit will make him much easier to kill. There is no particular magic that works well, so just use whatever. After the sword breaks, switch to a different one and plink away. Or use Karn's skill X-LKSK. A couple of those and the battle is over but the Skeleton is not dead yet. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- With the battle over the Skeleton will lead you on a wild chase through the underground maze. You will have to follow closely as it is quite possible to get lost. However at the exit the skeleton will put a chair in your way. Looks like you will have to find another way out. Don't worry though, it's easy. Just take the first possible turn as you backtrack and that will lead you directly to the other exit. In the next room you will see two exits. One is the way outside, the other will lead you further into the cave. If you take the way out, you will shortly come across the town Beria. However you want to go down into the depths of the cave and face the water monster that has been awakened by Khrima after countless years of slumber. It is flooding the continent. So prepare for another boss battle. ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- * Water Monster HP: 10,001 MP: 1,010,101,010,101,010,101 EXP: 50,002 GP: 90,000 Items: None Weakness: Water Resistance: Lightning Immunities: None Can anyone tell me why a Water Monster is weak to water and resistant against Lightning? Oh well. Have Ardam soak the guy and make sure Karn and Drecker are equipped with the Water sword and the Water Dagger respectively. They will deal so much damage that this is a short battle. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- After you defeat the monster it will sink into the briny depths from which it came... except your group is standing in water. Karn will get pulled into the swirly pool. Alas fair Karn, I knew him well. Don't worry though. Just go to the village Beria. Visit the end and try to use the bathroom. Karn will pop up out of the toilet. If you talk to various people in the village they will tell you of an ancient tower of great power. Seems like the sort of place Khrima would try to use. Better go check it out. Its another simple dungeon, no maze what so ever. And no treasure. Once you get to the to it will be totally pitch black. Ardam will light a fire so you can see. The room in full of explosives. RUN! On the way out Ardam will fall behind. The party will get out just in time to watch the tower explode... but where is Ardam? He was still in the tower. The party mourns for Ardam but must carry on. You are only in a valley of the Muddled Mountains so make your way to the other side. You will find a mountain trail that you can climb up and over the mountains. About half way up you will find a cave. Enter is and you will see Ardam and an old man talking. It turns out Ardam was blown all the way to the cave and has been studying with the Great Mages the past two months (it took two months to cross the valley and climb half the mountain?). Anywho, you have the party back at full speed. Continue up the mountain. Getting down wont be so easy. There is a very narrow path that leads down the face of a cliff. Drecker will stray a little too much and fall. Don't worry just yet. Get to the bottom and you will discover that Drecker was able to catch a branch. He will drop the rest of the way down and be unharmed. But wait! Your party is ambushed by monsters and Gildward will be carried away. Now if only you could just leave him as such. As you make your way down the rest of the mountain he shows up again, apparently he defeated the monsters that captured him. My response to this is WTF?! Gildward can't defeat a paper bag, how did he defeat monsters? The party goes to figure this one out. Gildward will show you where the monsters took him. Karn will go first but before the party can follow a gate falls down over the opening of the cave. Inside is a giant bug, a well trained bounty hunter, and an evil spirit of endless power. Wheee, boss battle with just Karn ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- * Giant Bug HP: 10 MP: 1 EXP: 1 GP: 1 Items: None Weakness: None Resistance: None Immunities: None * Well Trained Bounty Hunter HP: 11 MP: 2 EXP: 1 GP: 1 Items: None Weakness: None Resistance: None Immunities: None * Evil Spirit HP: 2 MP: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 EXP: -1 GP: 1 Items: None Weakness: None Resistance: None Immunities: None Take out the Evil Spirit first. He has almost no hit points but some amazing spells. And he has the MP to back those spells up. One hit and he is gone. The bounty hunter has high charisma so if you don't take him out next he might amass an army of fans. The Bug... well just make the bug go squish when you have the time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the battle Karn will find two switches. Pull one, and the gate will disappear and the rest of the group will join you. Pull the other and nothing happens yet. However when you finally get to Khrima's tower you will find the electrical defenses down. That was a power switch. Yay. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5) Chasing Khrima !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you come down from the mountains you will notice something, specifically Khrima's tower. Yay. If you hit the other switch the electrical defense will be down. There are no monsters here. When you reach the throne room Khrima will flee. Chase after him. Head east. Each town you come across will tell you that Khrima has just left. So keep following. In the fourth hamlet you come across you will find a large house with almost nothing in it. There are two items though. Check the shower and you will find the Rune Sword. Equip it and taste its Rune-y goodness. Then go to the kitchen and search the toaster. You will find a glowing orb of glowing orbness. Talk to the people around the village and you will find out that the temple to the north has been deserted for ages. Sounds like a good place to find ancient items that are obviously going to be much better than anything new technology allows for. There are no secret switches, so don't look. There are no monsters either. However on the top floor you will find a gift shop. They have some nice items, so stock up. He will also tell you that Khrima is at Mindar. Go back to town and see if you can't get any directions... Nope, but they will tell you that the Castle is 400 years old and has many guards. Strange, considering that there is no king in this land. You can check it out, but it is really just a good place to gain EXP and not much else. However right inside the castle you will meet a fellow adventurer you will tell you that Mindar is at the top of Mt. Hillpeak. See the freakingly huge mountain at the edge of the screen, that is Mt. Hillpeak. Climbing it is just long, not very hard. However there is a Fancy Staff in a chest on the way. Pick it up and equip Ardam with it. It will give a lower bonus to magic power but you will need the attack power soon. At the top you will encounter Whizrom. He has a grudge against Ardam. Ardam will insist on fighting this battle alone. ---------------------------BOSS BATTLE -------------------------------------- * Whizrom HP: 150 MP: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 EXP: 10,000 GP: 10,000 Items: None Weakness: Physical attacks Resistance: None Immunities: Magic This guy is amazingly resistant to magic attacks. You can waste all your MP and maybe do a total of 10 damage, even with your best spells. You best bet it to attack him with your staff. You can deal anywhere between 140 and 170 damage. In other words, one attack and the mighty Whizrom is dead. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- *To Be Continued?*