Avernum 2 Hints

After some agents from Avernum killed emperor Hawthorne the Empire has declared war. They have sent troops down from every direction and the Avernites are hard pressed to contain them. To make matters worse magical barriers have suddenly appeared all over the place, splitting Avernum up into small sections, so that communication has become all but impossible.

You have just been sent to Fort Ganrick in the northeast of Avernum and are awaiting further instructions. What can you do to help? Who has created the barriers and why? Has Avernum a chance of surviving the onslaught of the Empire?

No one expects a small group of inexperienced adventures to be capable of solving such problems. But maybe you have got what it takes to explore hitherto uncharted waters, to establish diplomatic relations with strange races, to unite all peoples who are opposed to the Empire, so that Avernum can be rid of this yoke of oppression.

I have started writing notes and hints for Avenum 2. This hints page is nearly finished but many of the town descriptions are missing or at best incomplete.

Before you can start playing, you must create a party. I nearly always use custom built characters with the standard setup of two warriors (one principally mêlée the other with pole weapon skill), a wizard (with a few priest spells) and a priest who has a few mage spells. It is useful to have an archer. I prefer to have mine at the back (priest or wizard). One character needs tool use and one should later be trained up in potions. It is good idea to consider other races: Nephilim have a missile bonus and Slithzerikai a pole weapon bonus. If you want a challenge, you could consider a doubleton or a singleton. Further notes on character traits and NPCs (Non Playing Characters).

Before you can undertake any of these missions, you must first find out who created the mysterious barriers, which have appeared all over Avernum. You will have to fight your way through dark tunnels to meet Bon-Ihrno a strange creature who continually tries to aid humans.

Only when you have competed this dangerous diplomatic mission can you return to Avernum where you can strengthen your party by adventuring and completing some of the many side quests. Then you can start on the major tasks.

It is much easier to keep track of things in this game than it was in Avernum 1. Every quest you take is recorded and can be viewed on the Info-Screen (Current Quests). As soon as you have completed a quest (that generally means reported back to the person who gave you the mission) the quest is removed from the list. There is unfortunately no way of refusing a quest. If you talk to some one who wants to give you a quest and trigger the correct response, the quest appears on your list and can only be removed by completing it. If for instance you get the mission from Gridley to find the lost shipment of arrows and he gets killed in the nephilim attack on Fort Ganrick, you cannot complete the task and it remains on your list. Some quests like "get metal bars for Kellia in Fort Draco" can never be completed (you can always bring her more bars), so it is on your list permanently.

You can also record any text box that appears, by writing it to your journal, which can be read any time. There is however no way of typing in your own notes. So you will have to rely on the good old medium of paper to keep track of things like boats or special items you want to come back for later. You could of course use an electronic notebook for this. These hints (particularly "Shops and other Stuff in Avernum") should make many of the notes redundant.

You will need four boats in this game. On the dark Waters you cannot really loose your boat, because you spend most of the time in it, only disembarking to explore an island and then sailing on. On the other three waters in Avernum (the river in the northeast from Fort Draco to Formello, the river and lakes of central Avernum and the Northern Waters) it is a bit easier to forget where you left the boat. So either always leave the boat in the same place for each waterway or make a note of where you were when you leave it.

In every friendly town you will find tradespeople who will sell you their goods, mages or priests who will teach you spells or other people like sages, healers or innkeepers who will offer you a range of services. I have compiled a list of all these people and places under the heading "Shops and other Stuff in Avernum".

When you have cleared out a hostile dungeon you will want to turn your hard won loot into cash. Many shopkeepes will offer you a price between 25% and 60% of the face value depending on your reputation and bartering skill. Like in Avernum 1, there is another rather curious way of turning loot into hard cash. If you ask to buy healing from a healer he/she will pay around 60% of the face value of everything on your inventory, independent of your bartering skill or reputation.

Although there are no Unlimited Item Resellers as in A3, the arrows/bolts trick in Avernum1 also works here: if you sell a single arrow to a shopkeeper he or she will offer a whole batch (6 or 10) for resale.

Some skills can be bought (see Special Skills), some can be learned from Mind Crystals while others can be obtained through special encounters. There are also abilities like Go Beserk or Lay on Hands which can only be obtained from Mind Crystals or through special encounters.

Since skills can only be bought upto level 5, you should (as far as possible) buy the first 5 levels before using a mind crystal or setting off a special encounter. An exception here is Archery. Once you have found the Nephilim who will train you, you can buy 5 further levels from them. Magery is a further exception: although you can only buy upto level 5 from Erika or Solberg the Drake in the Scree Pits will teach you at least one level, thus bringing you up to 6. It goes without saying that you should not waste mind crystals on party members that you intend to replace with NPCs

There is no shortage of cash in this game. Right from the start you can pick up enough loot to sell. In the very early stages you cannot buy everything you want, but by the time you go off down the Dark Waters you should have about 2,000 gold which you have not been able to spend on anything useful. The only problem is that you cannot have more than 15,000 coins in cash and there are no banks where you could deposit your earnings. If you sell something when you already have the maximum the item disappears of your inventory, but you are no richer. You will therefore want to store surplace items, which you cannot yet sell or which, like mind crystals, you do not yet want to use.

There are two "official" storage areas, one in the Inn in Silvar the other in the The Castle. You can however leave stuff in any town and pick it up later. I have never noticed that anything I have dropped in a town has disappeared. I have however often been surprised on finding something I deposited ages ago. If you store items do not use too many different places and always make a note of what you have stored and where.

When creating a party I always use custom built characters. The predefined characters are naturally quicker but defining your characters yourself is much more flexible. Each custom built character starts with Endurance 3, Strength and Dexterity 2, Intelligence, Mêlée Weapons, Pole Weapons, Bows, Thrown Missiles and Tool Use 1 and 65 Skill Points you can distribute. I like to have a Slith in the front line as they have a Pole Weapon bonus and are fire resistant. A Nephil should also be considered since they have a Missile bonus and are more nimble.

The most important skills for Warriors are Strength, Dexterity, Endurance and one weapon skill. Every character with spell casting ability starts knowing all spells at level one, which can be cast with the ability he has (tops out at Priest Spell 9 and Mage Spell 8). When you increase a character's spellcasting ability by training, he will have to buy the spell. So it is a good idea to start your spell casters with as much of the appropriate ability as possible. A mage should have at least Mage Spells 5 and therefore knows spells 1 (Bolt of Fire) upto 8 (Unlock Doors) and a priest should have Priest Spells 5 (Spells 1 –7 = Safe Travel) or 6 (Spells 1 –9 = Unshackle Mind).

Intelligence is important for spell casters (and also useful for warriors since it increases resistance to mind clouding spells and contributes to the secondary skill Item Lore). I however tend to concentrate on spell casting abilities and leave Intelligence to be trained later. This has the advantage that my spell casters start off knowing lots of spells and still have a lot of Spell Points = 4*(Intelligence + Mage + Priest).

Luck is a very important "ability" because it affects many secodnary skills and also contributes to random encounters. I however usually train in this skill later. The same goes for Hardiness, Defence, Assasination and Arcane Lore. First Aid appears to me to be utterly useless. If you intend to pick up Wendy you can forget Potion Making completely: she has level 13, which is enough for all potions. Tool Use is a bit more difficult as there are no NPCs with good Tool Use who will join you. I leave this skill when creating the party, but train up Becca or my Nephil later.

I usually ignore Character Traits except for the combination Natural Mage and Brittle Bones for my spell casters. This combination has the advantage that they can cast Mage Spells while wearing armour. Brittle Bones is not so very disadvantageous if you keep the spell casters out of the way of direct attacks and has the merit (+30) of more than cancelling out the xp-penalty for Natural Mage (-25) giving you a bonus of 5XP. You could however consider other combinations like Elite Warrior and Sickness Prone. Brittle Bones would not be very good for a fighter but sick warriors can be cured fairly easily. The other bad character traits (Cursed at Birth, Sluggish and Completely Inept) are a bit too disadvantageous to be considered

If you want a challenge, you could leave some free slots in your character list. A doubleton is more difficult than a full party of four characters. I have successfully gone through the game with only a slith and a nephil. A singleton is very trying: not only are fights more diffucult, a single character cannot learn enough Vahnatai Lore to be able to get all level 3 spells. In A3 each character can get upto level 11 in Vahnatai Lore. In this game it can only be bought from Zalav-Ta's Hut upto Level 5. Despite the lack of Vahnatai Lore it is however possible for a single character to get through the game.

There are four NPCs in this game who will join you. You should however pick them up as soon as possible. Each comes with a given level and 5 Skill Points. Unlike Avernum 1 they also have experience points commensurate with their level.

Becca is wandering around Formello and will join you after Bon-Ihrno has appeared and opened up the passage to the Dark Waters. She is an Elite Warrior (ability: Go Beserk) at Level 7 (850 xp) with Tool Use 4 and is a good addition to a low level party.

Wendy is wandering around Fort Dranlon and will join you as soon as you reach this town. She is a good mage (Intelligence 15, Mage Spells 17) at Level 19 (4550 xp). She also has high Arcane Lore and Potion Making but does not however know many mage spells (the basic spells 1 – 6 only level 1 but the advanced spells Dispel Barriers, Summon Aid, Beast Ceremony and Fireblast at level 2).

Assotho is in the Meeting Hall of Gnass and will join you when you have completed her quest to find evidence of an Empire Massacre. She is a good Warrior (Pole Weapons) and an experienced priestess (Priest Spells 20) and knows almost all priest spells at level 2.

Stewart is imprisoned in a cell on the second level of Kothtar. He is a strong warrior at level 37 (xp:15550) with no special abilities. By the time you can get through Kothtar your warriors are probably at least as strong as Stewart. It is up to you, if you pick him up. If you decide not to, tell him he can escape and you will gain 1 Reputation plus 10 xp.

You have been assigned to Fort Ganrick where you find yourself in the guestroom. You can find a bit of equipment here. You should talk to Captain Vidican, pick up useful equipment in the storage rooms to the east, save the game and then await the nephilim attack. While doing so you could explore a bit but do not go too far from the main compound in the centre. Make sure that not only your party but also Vidican and Gridley survive the attack. Otherwise you will not be able to get and complete the quests they give.

After successfully warding off the attackers you should look around the town talking to everyone who will talk to you. You can get quests from Vidican and Gridley – assuming they are still alive! Also pick up everything, that might be useful or can be sold. If something is marked as "not yours" do not worry: you can take it so long as no one is watching.

Stealing is not a crime in Avernum as long as you do not get caught. Before taking anything that does not belong to you, close the doors and check that nobody is in the vicinity by clicking on the "speak"

button. If there are guards in a room where you find a crate or barrel with goodies in it, just push it into another room and close the door.

After the nephil attack you can explore the area around Ganrick. As for Avernum 1, I have forgone writing a complete walkthrough for this game. The sequel is just a collection of notes on the strategy I used in one walkthrough. Except for the Dark Waters, which is quite linear, the order in which you complete the various tasks is up to you. So just go off and explore.

Fort Draco is just west of Ganrick and should be visited soon. Here you should talk to everybody and will find out that this town is not only being attacked by nephilim but there is also a lot of brigand activity in the area. Anford will give you the quest to solve the bandit problem, which you can do by going into the cellars. Here you can pick up some loot and learn a level 2 spell for free.

The next stop is Gunston Homestead where Carol will buy your loot and Tor will ask you to dispose of some salamanders in his cellar. After completing this task he will teach you Barter if you think it worthwhile having this skill.

After that I head west to Formello where I can get items identified, learn some spells and get some quests. After you have seen the projection of Bon-Ihrno you can pick Becca up if you wish. On the way back to Ganrick I visit Motrax and get the mission to kill some bandits who are lurking on the path between the Lair of Motrax and Ganrick. I leave the notheast corner until I am a bit stronger but one could pay Vail the Scrivener a visit.

Now it is time to start some serious adventuring. The first stop is the Nephilim Castle. There are two way into this dungeon. You can try getting in at the front or, if you have read the scroll the leader of the nephalim attack on Fort Ganrick dropped, you can sneak in from the cave at the back.

Now you can explore to the south of Draco. In the Verdant Cavern you find not only some good loot but also the bandits who stole the missing shipment of arrows which was destined for Ganrick as well as a mind crystal. On your way there or back you could help Mage-Lieutenant Tarrick out, who is in difficulties to the north of the Verdant Vale. You could also try finding the Giant's Lair, but this is rather easier if you have a few levels of Pathfinder and Unshackle Mind. Now you are probably strong enough to try the Blasted Ruins. As many characters as possible should have Repel Spirit level 2. Ritual Sanctification (to be found in Formello) is necessary to destroy the alter which is producing the undead. Unshackle Mind is also useful against the ghasts which are wandering around outside, particularly to the west and south of the ruins, but it is better to avoid them at this stage.

At this stage I usually have enough spare cash to buy a boat in Fort Draco and explore the river. There are a few things to be picked up along the banks and on the islands. On the west bank is the Sprit of a Mage who gives the quest to get revenge on the Ogres, which killed him. The Tiny Slith Fort should not be to difficult and you could pay Walby a visit. Beware of the Spore Beasts lurking around near his hut.

Now is the time to visit the GIFTS and recover their stolen eggs from the Aranea Web. After this you could destroy the Empire Camp and clear out most of the Lizard Lair, if you have not done so already. Now is the time to visit any unexplored areas in the northeast except Solberg's Tower, which apart from being rather tough does not bring very much at this stage in the game.

When you have explored all of the area in northeast Avernum enclosed by the Barriers, it is time to go to Formello and follow Bon Ihrno's plee by going down the tunnel he created, which starts you on a long and dangerous journey into the unknown.

Once you have got through the tunnel in Formello you find yourself in the Ruined Town. You can explore here but there ist not much of use yet save a boat which you can take and sail off onto the lake. You should visit Bentis-Ka in the Island Hut. After talking to him and exploring the tiny hut you can move on. There is a ledge on the south side of the lake, which you could explore.

Before going over the first waterfall you should check your supplies and state of health. There is still time to return to Formello to rest or to deposit excess equipment. Once on the way there is no possibility of returning or of selling loot until you reach the Vahnatai lands. So travel light! Do not take any excess equipment with you except as much food as possible, any potions you think could be helpful and the Lizard Egg, which is not heavy and will be needed for a quest as soon as you get back to Avernum.

Going over waterfalls is a bit difficult in this game because you can loose food. The best stategy is to save the game so that you can back up if you loose supplies.

It is a good idea to examine every island, landing place or ledge you come across because you will have no possibility of visiting these waters again.

After a few waterfalls and ledges with nothing more interesting than a Vahnatai shade that watches you, you come to a group of connected lakes. The way south is blocked by the Ruined River Fort. Before visiting this fort you should explore the area. In the NE is the Barrier Tower. Although the building cannot be entered at this stage in the game it is worth having a look at it from the outside. On the southern end of the west wall to is the teleporter code for this tower. Although you can find the code later in the Tower of Magi it is still worth having a look at it. The Imps wandering around outside the tower are a bit tricky for a low level party because they cannot be killed by Repel Spirit level 2. They are however very sensitive to brute force: just send in hasted (and blessed) warriors and keep healing them. To the north is a secret passage leading to some loot.

The various lakeside beaches and river banks are worth visiting. Whether you land on the island to the east now or after the Ruined River Fort is up to you. You should however be careful not to pick up poisonous mushrooms here. In any case the Watery Ruins in the SW must be visited if you want to get through the Ruined River Fort.

After leaving the ruined fort (which you should expore very carefully) you can clear the island to the east of wandering monsters if you have not done so already. Be careful with the mushrooms! Next come a few waterfalls (watch your supplies). You could sail past the big lake and jouney on to the end of the Dark River, but it is much better to explore every nook and cranny here. There is a bit of loot, some food and a number of encounters that will increase your experience – two of them can save you some problems later.

As opposed to all other healers in this game the Vahnatai Shade in the NW corner of the lake will not buy your loot. He will however heal you which sometimes saves having to use up your food on resting. You should try and activate the Awakening in the Coffin Caves. The Ruined Villa yields a bit of loot. If you intend frolicing with the Gremlins on the western shore, you should deposit all your food in one of the dungeons before approaching them, otherwise they will steal lots of your badly needed supplies.

Once you have explored the lake and its surroundings thoroughly you can pay you respects to Dahris-Bok. If you neglect this courtesy he will curse you.

After Dahris-Bok's tomb the river makes a few turns and goes over some treacherous waterfalls where you will certainly loose all your food. You can take a breather after helping out in the Hydra Lair. Make sure that you are at full health before attemting the next batch of devastating waterfalls. Further on the river is blocked by rocks. You have come to the end of the Dark Waters and must now leave your boat. There are some undead on the east bank and two groups of hostile Vahnatai who will attack you on your way to the Long Tunnel.

After coming out of the Long Tunnel (which is actually not very long) you come onto a plain near Avit. You cannot avoid entering this town, which you should in any case explore thoroughly. You can find a few mushrooms to the north of the town. Talking to Bon Ihrno and performing the Ritual of Welcoming are essential. You should however talk to everybody and pick up all you can find. Although no one has told you about it, you can find the key hidden in a tree.

Then on to Olgai where you can sell all the loot you have gained on your boat journey, but keep the Fire Lizard Egg, a Fine Crystal, an ordinary Waveblade, a single Razordisc and a spare Vahnatai Cloak. You will need these items when you get back to Avernum. If you have behaved yourselves on the way through the Dark Waters you will not need to do any of the tests (Strength, Speed or Mind), otherwise you will have to do some or all of them before you can enter the council chamber and allow yourselves to be scryed.

It is up to you, what you do after presenting yourselves to the council. You could explore the Vahnatai lands to the east. Although Egli brings little at this stage in the game, you could visit it. Tokor-Te, in Mancuso can teach you some Mage spells and you could learn some Vahnatai Lore from Zalav-Ta. I prefer however to return to Avernum as soon as possible. Other than identifying items and selling your loot the only thing left to do in Olgai is to turn your skill points into real skills by training. It is important for your mage to be at least at level 8 so that he/she can learn Lightnig Spray from Kayannan in the Tower of Magi (or Tokor-Te, in Mancuso). Level 11 would be better, then you can learn the Beast Ceremony, but it is not very likely that you have enough experience for this yet.

The portal in Olgai leads to the Tower of Magi which you should explore thoroughly. After an intensive grilling by mages and soldiers you are allowed to rest for a bit and wake up to find yourselves in a room which now seems to have been allocated to you. You can always return here to your chambers and recuperate. When you leave the bedroom you find a note telling you to talk to Mahdavi, which you should certainly do. You will not be needing the Vahnatai artifacts yet so you could leave them here to be picked up later but it is probably better take them with you and leave them in Silvar. The Fire Lizard Egg you can give to Suzanne who will reward you with Curing L3 which is very useful when fighting Giant Slugs. You should take the opportunity to learn some spells, but do not forget that you will soon be able to buy mage spells very cheaply. Kayannan can teach you Lightning Spray (which is almost a Must). Mother Clarissa is very expensive (actually exorbitant) so I would not recomend buying much from her except perhaps Mass Healing if funds can be stretched that far.

Afer talking to everyone here and getting a number of quests you can leave the Tower and head north. There are two routes. You can go west and then north where you will be attacked by a rather strong party of Empire soldiers. If you do not yet feel up to them, you could take the eastern route where you will probably be waylaid by maraudering sliths near the Serpent Cult. You could clear this dungeon out now, but I prefer to leave it till later. Wending your way north through the various caves and tunnels you will come across a Nephilim Village where the inhabitants have been poisoned. If you have some Greymould Salve you could cure them, otherwise you must come back later.

Although you have already heard about the fall of Cotra from the guards outside the Tower of Magi, you cannot fail to notice that something is wrong. The guards at the bridge near Silvar will tell you more about it. A visit to this town is a must. Here you can get a lot of information, eradicate some brigands and get missions from Elspeth and Captain Arlen. I like to deposit excess equipment here (like the Vahnatai artifacts that I still have but do not yet need), but I refrain from selling any loot or buying a boat.

On the way to Fort Duvno you will pass Fort Avernum which is now a refugee camp. In Duvno you can sell your loot to Eucher, talk to many people and get quests from Walner and Captain Johnson. Then staight across the Easten Province to the northwest. Watch out for groups of Null Bugs which plague the eastern part of this area.

Fort Dranlon is best entered from the east or north as there are often maraudering Empire patrols on the road to the south. Here you can find Nance and get some missions which you cannot yet complete. You can also let Wendy join your party. Whether or not you use NPCs is up to you. I have written this walkthrough as if Assotho and Wendy join the party. Even if you do not let them join you, these notes will still serve as a good guide. I have played the game with only two fighting characters and as a singleton and in both cases used more or less the same strategy.

If you do let her join the party you could make a detour to the Aranea Web to train her in the Bolt of Fire Lavel 3. If you have not already picked it up you should get the Runed Key on the altar in the room wthout a door in the Blasted Ruins. (You need Move Mountains but have surely already found level 1 in the Nephilim Castle and a single demon should not daunt you at this stage of the game.)

In any case you should top up your mage spells for your mage(s). Since Postlethwaite in Fort Dranlon can teach only the first 8 mage spells, you should go to Kosdad, where you can learn all mage spells upto Lightning Spray. (The prices are the same – extremely cheep – in both places.)

Now you should concentrate on getting your reputation up to at least 32. There are a number of ways to do this. You can help the Avernum patrol near the north wall or free the Nephilim prisoners or destroy the smelter for Yong-Mi in Cotra, where you can also find a boat in the SW corner. It is probably better to avoid the Eye Beasts in the NW corner of the town. They are rather difficult and you can only reach them if you can Dispel Barriers. If your reputation is still under 32, you could kill the Slith Chief in his secret hideaway, but it is normally better to leave this dungeon until later because you cannot clear it completely until you get the mission from Pathass.

You should now have a boat, one or more red passes and a reputation of at least 32. Sell all your loot in Duvno, go to Silvar and train up, then pick up your Vahnatai artifacts (a cloak, a fine crystal, a waveblade and a razordisc) and take to you boat. You should sail west and then north to Fort Dranlon where you turn west again until you reach the lake. Sail south and on into the next lake where you can find evidence of an Empire massacre. You can sail on to the SW corner of the lake, disembark and proceed west then south and west to reach Gnass where you can pick Assotho up if you want to and learn how to locate the lost slith charm.

It is worth a short detour to Blosk to get the quest from Justin to find Grahk's Peninsular, before going to the Castle. Here you should talk to Lorraine to get her quest to visit Harston. Then to Radner to apply for Magi Clearance. It is also a good idea to get the mission to bring her Empire Records, not because they bring much money, but because you get 5 xp for each one that you deliver. As they take up little romm and weigh next to nothing (1 lb), it is well worth picking them up wherever you can find them.

Now you have Magi Clearance you have access to almost all of the magical learning of Avernum. First on the list is a visit to Patrick whose tower is southwest of the Castle. Here you can obtain much information, pick up a few goodies like potion ingredients and a Knowledge Brew, learn a potion recipe, get a Deciphering Lense and learn some spells at Level 3. Julz will let you learn Bind Foe and Haste at level 3. I have almost never used Bind Foe but Haste at L3 is great: it hastes all party members in one go. To get that far you first have to find some Borgia Toadstools which are to be found in Egli hidden away behind a magical barrier which cannot be destroyed by Piercing Crystals. So you need Destroy Barriers L2 (L1 does not exist at all in this trilogy). There are three ways of getting the spell in this game: You can pick up Wendy (the easiest), you cam visit Aimee or kill Limoncelli.

Getting to Aimee is difficult but not impossible at this stage in the game. Officially you need a Blue Pass and you will also be asked for a Grey one. I never bother to show my passes in this game. I just attack the guardposts and every Empire patrol I come across. You loose no reputaion by doing so but get a lot of experience points and can pick up a lot of good loot. You will for instance never again need to buy Steel Arrows.

The route from Patrick's Tower is straight north to Fort Emerald (where you could cure Brian for Theresa). Here you can open the north gate yourself and go out. Now north and east to your boat, across the first lake and north through the second and up the river seperating the Giant Lands from the Empire controlled area. Leave the boat and go west (or NW depending on where you disembarked), through the first guardpost (red pass) and then W, N and E to the next one (blue pass). On the road going east is usually a patrol which asks for a grey pass. Turning north you come to a watchtower where you will certainly be ambushed by a rather strong contingent comprising archers and infiltrators. North of that are the Empire Docks where you can find a boat after killing the garrison. Now you can sail east right into the SE corner of the lake where you can find the spirit that will teach you the much needed spell.

It is unlikely that you will complete this expedition in one go. I use Fort Dranlon as a refuge where I can sell or store my loot and rest. On the way back or forth you should make one detour up the river directly north of Dranlon to read the sign "Grahk's Peninsula" and another to visit Harston. Then back to Dranlon, acoss the Eastern Province to Silvar and south to the Tower of Magi.

At this stage I make a visit to Motrax not only for the level 3 spells but also to talk to the mages there. It is well worth exploring the Eastern Province (particularly Cotra and the hidden Sliths). It is also good to explore the Great Cave (at least Dharmon, Blosk, Camp Samuels, Fort Emerald) and pick up lots of missions. As soon as you have got the quest to find Sixus from Bevan in Almaria you can go staight to the Trapped Halls, where you not only find Sixus but also the Beast Ceremony L3. You should also explore the Eastern Vahnatai Lands where you have probably already cleard Resting Cell #4. The Vahnatai Fortress is not to difficult and yields much loot. Although the Lava Dome is a bit disappointing you should go there not only to get the Mica Tome but also to learn Blademaster in the nearby shrine.

Some of these missions have already been begun and they certainly must not be done in the order in which they are listed here (which is the same as in the Hints Book). It in fact much better to do them in another order. For example you already have Magi Clearance but must wait a bit to get Crown Clearance. Although I seldom use them to get past enemy guardposts I like to collect the different passes (Red, Blue and Grey) as soon as possible. For one thing they are needed for quests in Almaria and Fort Remote and for another, a grey pass is very useful in the Halls of Chaos.

This is the order in which I usually complete the Major Quests: first I get the Empire passes, then the Blessed Athame which is needed to learn Repel Spirit L3 in the Serpent Cult. Now is the time to clear the teleporter in the Tower of Magi of demons (if this has not already been done). Not only must this portal be used to reach Erika (and later Garzahd) but it is also very useful for getting to other destinations around Avernum without trouble. Now is probably a good time to get the Orb of Thralni. The Demonslayer must wait until after you have recovered two of the Crystal Souls. Getting the various levels of Security Clearance happens more or less automatically.

To get the Demonslayer you must obtain permission from King Micah, which he will only give you after you have returned two Crystal Souls. He wiil then tell you to talk to Rone who tells you it is in Patrick's Tower.

You can get this at any point in the game but as Kothtar is rather difficult, you should probably wait until you have a fairly strong party. The way through this dungeon is rather complicated but is explained in the town description. Once you have the Orb you can reach places which were previously inaccessible and are marked thus [Orb of Thralni is needed]

Ths is another artifact which is essential if you wish to complete some tasks and is naturally rather difficult to get. First you must find a way through the Waterfall Warren. Before you set out you should sell or deposit any surplace equipment taking only potions, wands and the like, that you find useful in combat, some food and a hammer if you can find one. The hammer has nothing to do with the search for the orb but could be useful for another quest on the way to and through the warren. The route to the Halls of Chaos is marked on the map of the Lakes. The waterfalls on the way are just as tricky as those on the Dark Waters; so watch out for your rations and save the game often while under way.

The red pass is easy to find. There are three in this game, one in the Empire Camp north of Formello, one in the Spider Caves and one in the hidden Empire lair in Almaria. Blue passes can be found in the Hidden Empire Fort and the Unfinished Fort. Gourdon in Fort Duvno tells you about a prisoner in Mertis who knows where a grey pass (the only one in this game) is to be found. (Spoiler: If you still do not know where it is look here.) The passes (even the grey one) are not too difficult to get hold of.

This is dead easy. If your Reputation is high enough (32 for Magi or 50 for Crown) you can apply to Radner in the The Castle who will , after a bit of paperwork, give it to you.

A fairly strong party is needed to reach the Archmage. First you have to clear the Teleporter in the Tower of Magi [Magi clearance is needed]. If you have read the Obelisk near Formello you can now teleport to her tower and fight your way through to her.

Last update: 11. Apr. 12, Mike Middleton
All Rights Reserved. © 2006 Mike Middleton (except for matter already copyrighted by Spiderweb Inc.) for further details see disclaimer
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Special Skills
Find Herbs		1
Magery		4
Resistance		4

Special Skills
Barter		3
Blademaster		3
Anatomy		5
Gymnastics		2
Parry		3

	Avernum 2
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