Tower of Zkal Beams

[Superteeth]

Hello. I am under the tower, and used the portals in the right combination to get to a new area, but the path is immediately blocked by beams. Looking at Randomizer's list indicates that there are mirrors somewhere that you use move mountains to reach, but there are no cracked walls anywhere, and I've randomly used move mountains in a lot of places with no success. What am I supposed to do now? Thanks.

[BenS]

I remember 2 sets of beams there. The 1st group of mirrors is to the left and N of the beams; can't say I remember something blocking access to the mirrors. As an aside, I found this set of beams more annoying than the 2nd group. Once you're in the 2nd area, S of more beams, you will find 2 mirrors at the very bottom of a long rectangular room. Maybe it was luck, but it was easy for me to deal w/ the beams of the 2nd area. Usually beams bedevil me, honestly, but it worked out well here.

[Superteeth]

I can't get to any beams other than the first ones you come across after the teleporter puzzle. The path is immediately blocked by beams.

[Minion]

Sometimes you need to look for lone sections of mossy walls, not just cracked ones. I overlooked one of these in the Spiral Crypt.

[Randomizer]

The wall you need to use move mountains on is the northwest one from the first beam sources right as you enter the area from the corridor. 

 

There are beams just after the teleporter portal, but they shut off after a few rounds to give you time to run up the corridor.

[Lost in Avernum]

How do you solve the beam puzzles under zkal's tower?  I hate beam puzzles!

[Harrington]

Ugh, I'm in the same boat. I've found the text walkthroughs for the original Avernum 3 and have tried following them, but I still cannot get past the first room with the mirrors & beams. I've tried every iteration and layout of mirrors I can think of and my party still gets wrecked - someone's always sticking out behind the mirrors, or stumbles onto one of the runes when moving back, or something. Just getting the mirrors to go where you want them takes time and effort, and then inevitably leads to my party's death. It's brutal, and I haven't touched the game in two weeks as a result.

 

If there's a video walkthrough, or screenshots showing what the mirror layouts should look like, I'd love to know. The golem factory was painful enough but this is just un-fun. 

 

 

[Randomizer]

You need to move pairs of mirrors so the deflected beams will hit an adjacent source. Otherwise there will be one beam deflected into your path. To avoid stepping on a rune the first one is pushed into place with a diagonal move to go passed the runes. After that all the others will go with alternating mirror types:

 

/\/\ is how the mirrors will look on the screen so you can get passed the first room.

[Harrington]

Randomizer, you're a lifesaver. Thank you. 

 

For anyone in the future who finds this thread looking for solutions to the beam puzzle:

In the first room with the mirrors and beams, set up the mirrors in the /\/\ pattern that Randomizer mentioned, with the mirror furthest to the right sitting on top of one of the runes. Step on the rune above that last mirror and watch the beams kill each other. Then push the last mirror up against the far wall - so the layout is now /\/_\, with _ being a one-tile space - which will direct a beam into the last beam emitter, and you can then walk up the passage and continue. 

 

When you reach the second beam room, you only have two mirrors, and the beams are pointing south instead of north. This time, use the mirrors like this: \/.  Set them up in that arrangement each time,  pointing at a new emitter, then walk south to trigger the runes. Work your way along the room in this fashion, breaking each crystal as you go. Because the room is so long, your party should fit safely behind the mirrors each time.