Navigation: General Hints, Shops, People and Quests, Notes
List of all towns and shops in Avernum

This is the centre of learning in Avernum. You reach it for the first time by being teleported from Olgai in the Vahnatai lands. Once you have Magi Clearance and have removed the demons, you can use the portal in the middle of the tower to transport you to various places in Avernum. There is a second portal that conveys you back to Olgai.

It is always a good idea to talk to everybody. The first time here you will wake up in your own chambers. So I will describe the tower, starting from this point.

Leaving your chambers and going south and then east you come to Kelner's office where you can get a mission. When you have completed it not only do you gain 4 Reputation and 20 xp but he tells you to read his tome which will teach Battle Rage L3. At the back of his office is a locked door leading to a cupboard with some bookshelves containing two historical scrolls (not much use because nobody is very interested in them in this game).

Further along the corridor are some sleeping quarters where lots of uncommunicative soldiers are milling around. Further on is a pool with some steps leading north. Suzanne is usually walking around here. If you talk to her she will tell you that she is experimenting with fire lizard eggs. If you give her an egg (hopfully you have saved one from the Lizard Lair) she will reward you with 10 xp and permission to read her tome (Curing L3).

Going further eastwards along the corridor in the south you see nothing but empty walls. There are however two secret doors in the north wall of this corridor. The first one, just after the staircase, leads onto a chamber with three tomes. The left one belongs to Suzanne. The other two (belonging to Kelner and Vincent) can be read as soon as you have completed their quests.

A little further along the corridor is another hidden door leading to a small room. Behind the locked door is a small storage room with 5 potions marked Not Yours. You can take them with impunity because there is no one in the neighbourhood who could see you. Just round the corner in the SE corner of the tower is the Vahnatai Portal Chamber which you certainly do not want to use at the moment. Futher North is X's library, which is not worth visiting yet.

Returning to the steps near the pool in the south, you can go up them and east into a storeroom with some crates and barrels guarded by two soldiers. Look in the barrels and decide if you want any of their contents. If so, look for a hidden door in the east wall and push one of the selected crates into the secret passage where you can loot it to your hearts content. You could follow the twisty passage to come out through another hidden door into a room with two giant lizards that are constrained by a ring of runes. You could kill them or ignore them and go through the locked door to the Portal antechamber, but it is not worthwhile at this stage in the game. This route is in fact only of use later, if you want to go directly from the Vahnatai portal to the central portal without visiting anyone in the tower.

After picking up some of the goodies in the storeroom you can proceed west and visit Mahdavi. (I have noticed that if I do not empty the barrels on the first time in the tower, the best things seem to get taken by sombody else and have disappeared on subsequent visits.)

The first room is Pyrn's. You do not need to enter it if you read the plaque behind the Barrier Tower on your way through the Dark Waters.

The next room belongs to Mahdavi who together with X (in a library in the SE corner of the tower) and Solberg (near Formello) is a member of the Triad. She will give you the mission to destroy the Empire teleporter. The first step is to talk to Pyrn, which you can only do when you have got to the teleporter in the middle of the tower.

At the end of the corridor is Ostoth's room which can be entered after you have talked to him in the Lair of Motrax. The best way now is to go north through the long corridor and the Tower gardens and then to the west.

In the west are some apprentice quarters, a reading roon, lecture theatres, the dining hall and the library, none of which containing anything interesting. The only notworthy places are Kayannan's laboratory and a secret door between the E–W passage and the N–S corridor in the far west, thus offering a short cut from your chambers to the entry hall.

Kayannan sells some useful mage spells at an expensive price. It is better to buy only the spells that you will need on the way to the Eastern Province to the north where you can find Kosdad who sells mage spells very cheaply.

Directly to the east of the entrance hall is a shop with two counters. Piglet sells potion recipes and will identify items. Vincent sells potions and asks you to find a black drake fang (reward: 25 xp, Shielding L3). Directly behind these two you can find Brantford who offers a colourful miscellany.

Further east is the Temple of Pure Light administered by Mother Clarissa. As a healer she will pay very good prices for loot. Since her prices for teaching spells are exorbitant, you should only buy spells here, if you need them urgently. She can also lift the Dread Curse at no cost!. Hopefully you will not need this service, but you can complete a mission for Walner in Fort Duvno buy telling him about her.

South of the temple is path between two rows of statues leading to some unused barracks, where you can leave a character if you wish. If you want to get to X's library, which is directly south of here, you must go right to the north and take the corridor along the northern and eastern perimeter or go down the long passage leading south from the tower gardens. X has very little to offer in this game except a few high level spells at exorbitant prices.

To the west of the gardens is a small room with gardening equipment. In the SW corner are what used to be Linda's quarters, but are now the "Creature Containment Cells": three cells with wild creatures you can kill for a bit of practice and experience.

Much more important is the laboratory to the east run by Vidrain and the Portal in the middle of the Tower. When it was put into operation some demons somehow got drawn into it and are now infesting the Portal Room.

Before going off to the portal you could deal with the 4 cave slimes in the room to the SE of the stairs to the portal. In the room further to the south is a Mind Crystal (Energy Pulse).

Once you have got Magi-Clearance and feel upto the challenge you can go into the Portal Chamber and eradicate a Mung Demon, 7 Imps and 2 Demons. After that, you can use the portal to your heart's content. (A list of the teleporter codes together with hints on finding them is to be found an the page describing the Special Routes).

There is no inn in this town but you can rest in your own chambers to the west.

Last update: 26. Oct. 11, 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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