Erika, Bandits and Spire Chasm|
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Erika, Bandits and Spire Chasm |
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Navigation: Notes
Friendly towns: Fort Spire
Neutral places:: Erika's Tower | S Blocked Passage
Dungeons: R Ruined Fort | B Ruined Bandit Cave | C Bandit Cave | K Skarragath | H Prison of Grah-Hoth
List of all towns and shops in Avernum
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| Erika, Bandit and Spire Chasm |
Bandits are operating between Fort Saffron and Fort Spire. You can find out that they are getting through a secret passage in Fort Saffron and also who is leading them.
You can get to Erika by the boat from the Northern Waters as recomended in the Hints Book. I find it easier to go west from Spire and use the Orb of Thralni.
You need the Orb of Thralni to fly across the chasm to where six Demon Golems and six Skeletal Warriors are waiting for you. They drop a few Eneralds and you find they were guarding a hidden passage which leads to a cave where you find the mummified body of an alien bearing a curious curving sword whose blade oozes a greenish goo. This is the Alien Blade which is now called a Venomous Blade.
A rather large group of well armed bandits are wandering around this area. They demand 100 coins to let you past. If you refuse they attack. They are rather difficult but if your party is not strong enough to defeat them, you probably could not get through Erika's tests. In which case it is better to leave and try again later. If you do fight them they drop a bit of loot and you get Harfloot's Cap, a rather powerful helmet.
Not a lot here, as the cave has already been ransacked. But perhaps someone is hiding here.
After helping some Avernum sodiers out, you can explore this cave and find the perpetrator of the bandit problem.
There is a group of 5 Lancing Fungi lead by 2 Eybeasts lurking in this hidden cavern. You must get past them if you want to get the purple mould for the crone. If they are too tough you can, with a bit of luck, negotiate a path past them to the patch of mould to the east, and back again.
There are lots of Poison Fungi and Cave Slimes wandering around. At the end of a Path through some lava fields are a Wisdom and two Piercing Crystals. If you take them two Drakes and six Fiery Demons appear.
If you free this imprisoned Haakai it turns on you, backed up by a Fiery Demon and two Divine Shades. They do not drop anything but you get the Vorpal Blade the haakai was wielding. I will certainly give it to my beamish boy if I ever come across a Jabberwock.
The demon lord is imprisoned in a bottle in this isolated building.
Here are 100 coins and an Armour Elixir.
If you free this Haakai, it decides not to kill you but tells you to kill Grah-Hoth who is imprisoned south of here. Unfortunately for the haakai the enchantment put on it causes it to explode as soon as it tries to leave.
This fort which is manned by the souls of people killed by Grah-Hoth was erected to stop anyone getting to his prison.
If you decide to attack this ogre village, it will be defended by 10 Hulking Ogres 4 Ogre Mages and a Cave Giant. They drop lots of Emeralds and some Crude Broadswords. After the battle you find 300 coins and a Steel Helmet.
An old crone (P on the Worldmap) will ask you to find some purple mould for her. There are six charges located at various places in the area:
If you bring all the mould to her, she reveals herself as Erika and lets you get through the second door of her tower.
This is the Empire fort Khoth destroyed in his search for his stolen Scroll.
Even with Dispel Barriers L3 you cannot get far into this cave..
In this hidden passage you can find a Waggon loaded with iron bars (W on the Worldmap). Someone would certainly be interested to learn about it.
Although there are no regenerating patches of potion ingredients in this area, there is a patch of Energy Herbs which can be harvestet once in an enclosed area on the south bank of the river towards the SW end shortly before Erika's Tower.