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| Halls of Chaos | The Cellars |
| Avernum 2 | Halls of Chaos | The Great Lakes |
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List of all towns and shops in Avernum
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| Halls of Chaos | The Cellars |
I hated this dungeon in Exile 2; I remember that I seemed to spend most of my time here pushing crates and barrels into the river. The curious rule is still operative, but only for a small part of the building. In Avernum it is much more fun. The only part that can be frustrating is the maze under the SW of the halls (for which I have produced an enlarged map of the cellars which can be opened in a seperate window).
It is a good idea to have a grey pass when you come here, otherwise you cannot get to the treasure chamber which, although it is still rather empty, does have a few rather nice items.
When you enter these halls you can climb the stairs to the north and read the text on the obelisk standing on a dais:
Hall of Chaos
This place is of the Empire now
Depart or Die
The ground floor is divided into four quadrants. In the SE you can get some passwords you will need later and if you have a grey pass you can rob the treasure trove. In the NE you can find two keys which you will also need later. The SW quadrant leads down to a maze and other obstacles in the cellar. When you emerge from your subterranean excursion you find yourself in the NW quadrant.
Before starting on the quadrants however, it is a good idea to get rid of the wandering monsters in the corridors. At the far end of the middle corridor to the west are two Gazers and an Eyebeast. You can also enter the outer passageways in the NW quadrant. There you will find three Black Shades. It is better to kill these off now, otherwise they will block your escape later. Even if you kill these monsters, you will repeatedly be attacked by Golems and Spectres, which keep appearing in the corridors on this level.
I prefer to start in the SE. Through the door to the south is a somewat swampy garden. As soon as your party gets slightly north of the centre of this garden, six Shamblers appear, 2 in each of the southern and one in each of the northern corners. These opponents are rather difficult, so I like to prepare my party. Cast Beast Ceremony and enter combat mode on reaching the centre. Then I can send one warrior north to trigger the materialisation of the monsters and my second warrior south to attract the attacks of the shamblers in the south . This way allows my spell casters to heal and attack without getting hurt themselves.
To the east is a room with three statues each with a mat in front of it. The obelisks near the statues tell you that the northern one wants a crate, the southern one some food and piggy in the middle a barrel. Hopefully you have some food on your inventory. If not there is some dried meat in one of the crates or barrels by the docks. In any case you must go back to the docks to fetch a crate and a barrel. I prefer to do this in combat mode, because I can get both at once and keep my other characters out of the way. When you have made the offerings you cam pull the lever and the statues say "Plor", "Fump" and "Quib".
Now is a good time to go out and rest if your spell points are low. There is a nice little river bank just SW of entrance, where you can rest. Then back to the Halls and past the obelisk demanding a grey pass, down into the treasure rooms.
The foyer to the treasure rooms is empty until you get near the door in the north, when a part of the wall to the SW breaks down to reveal four Mutant Lizards and a Black Shade. It is again wise to prepare yourself for these monsters. Even when you have dealt with these are you troubles not over. Do not leave combat mode but send your warriors to the still standing part of the wall in the south and your spell casters to the north. As soon as one of your characters gets near the door another part of the wall disappears again revealing 4 Mutant Lizards and a Black Shade. Having killed these you can unlock the door. Go through it and then west were a plaque on the wall warns about basilisks. Round the corner are seven of these beasts waiting for you. Their nests are empty.
There is a secret door into the treasure chamber at the end of the corridor just before the basilisk's lair. The notice on the wall of the anteroom tells you not to "add or remove items without clearance and enacting the proper procedure". That is all well and good, but you must solve the problem with brute force (but hopefully not too much ignorance). As there is a doomguard in the SW corner of the chamber you cannot perform the Beast Ceremony here. That does not matter very much because you must now put your trust in the most powerful warrior in your party. My stratergy with doomguards is to cast all strengthening spells like Haste, Battle Rage, Divine Warrior on my best fighter. She/he should take any useful potions like Heroric Brew and use any Abilities like Go Beserk or Inner Might that he can and go up to the Doomgard and attack it. It is important that each blow is as powerful as possible. Each time the monster is hit but not killed, it splits. The new Doomguard has less health points but can do as much damage as the original. The spell casters should stay in the background healing, shielding and blessing the hero. The second warrior should stay just in front of them to protect them should one of the newly spawned doomguards break loose and attack the rest of the group.
Having disposed of the Doomgard(s) you can look around. The ledger in the corner tells you that the chests contan some coins, two rings, some ingedients and a crossbow. Looking in the chests however you find only a Ring of Exposure and some Mandrake. There is of course a hidden room to the north, where the other items (Blessed Crossbow and an Armour Ring) have been stored. Although no note comes up when you find them, you can see on the Information Screen that you gain 230 coins by looking in the chests.
In the NE corner of this quadrant is a hidden room which can be found by searching the northern end of the east wall. Through the door to the west is a golem which is guarding the door to another room with a chest containig some dried meat an energy and a healing potion.
This is of course not the main attraction of this quadrant. When you enter the corridor leading north from the door in the south you see two runes. Walking over the left one causes a barrel to appear and the right one a crate. At the end of the corridor are two signs reading "Not while any barrels remain." on the left and "Not while any crates remain." to the right.
Here is the curious rule about crates and barrels. The trick is to push all the crates and barrels in the docks into the water. Then up to the door to the NE quadrant. If you now keep to the west you can take the route to the east and vice versa. It does not really matter in which order you complete these tasks. So let us start with the eastern route.
Push all the crates into the water, go up the corridor going only over the left rune thereby producing a barrel and go right. Through two secret doors to the south you come to a staircase down which you find yourself at I in the Hall of Bones. As soon as you get here you should haste your party and enter battle mode. Send your warriors off to smash the crystals which produce Vengeful Shades. Concentrate on the crystals and leave the undead to your priest(s) otherwise you will be overwhelmed by the shades.
In the SW is a magical barrier behind which there is nothing, not even if you walk over the pentagram. On the west wall just north of the barrier are two crystal boxes, in one of which a blessed dagger is to be found. Behind the locked door in the SE is a small storeroom where some herbs and a Vahnatai cabinet J containig a Steel Key can be found. Now through the gate in the south with your prize, up the stairs and past the magic barrier (which can be walked through).
This time push the barrel into the water, go up the corridor in the NE quadrant, this time only passing over the righthand rune, which produces a crate. Now you can go to the west, through two secret doors and down the stairs to a teleporter K. Here you can only send one character in. He/she must fight 4 shades and 4 Cave Slimes and 2 Viscous Goos. After killing the shades you can look around the prison cells. There is a note on the desk about the defences of this complex. The locked cells contain nothing at all. Then off to the rubbish pit where the slimes and goos must be dealt with. In the crystal box L in the NE corner is an Amber Key.
The door to the SW quadrant is in the west wall. This part is rather difficult because there are quite a few Blck Shades and Gardians in the corridor to the staircase. The best way of dealing with these pests is to perform the Beast Ceremony after entering the block. Then send your warriors through the door to the north. The spell casters should retire into a corner, where they offer the least exposure to any invisible antagonists which get past your warriors, who must go along the corridor fighting Black Shades and Guardians.
This part of the dungeon is rather complicated, so I have produced an enlarged map of the cellars which can be opened in a seperate window.
There are all sorts of undead wandering around the maze. I prefer to kill off all I can find and then got to N. Walking over this square opens the wall at O. Walking over P opens the wall at Q and R causes an opening to appear at S. Be careful though, stepping on other squares closes the holes again. I have marked some (but not all) of these squares with 
.
As soon as you get past S you will be confronted by two Mutant Giants. Now through the door to the north. The next door needs one of the keys you found earlier and the next door the other. Before passing the last door prepare yourself for a tough battle.
After a fight with three Gazers and three Eyebeasts you can explore the three staircases leading off this hallway. Each one leads up to a small room in the NW quadrant. In each of these rooms is a pedestal. On reaching the Pedestal you will be asked for one of the passwords you obtained from the statues in the SE quadrant. After taking the item on the pedestal you can pull the leaver and leave the little room or climb back down to the Long Hall and go up another staircase. The stairs at u in the middle of the west wall lead to a pedestal that requires the password "Fump" and yields an Energy Pulse Mindcrystal. (These Mindcrystals should not be used. They can however be sold.)
The staircase at v in the middle of the east wall leads to a pedestal with a Spidersilk Shirt (Password "Quib"). The last staircase at T in the NW corner goes up to the Blessed Athame where the Password "Plor" is demanded.
Now you can pull the lever and leave the NW quadrant. If you did not kill them off before you will be pestered by three Black Shades. Since they could see you through the windows, they would already have attacked you when you came up to the first pedestal. That is why I recommended clearing the passages in the NW quadrant right at the start.
