Randomizer

Khoth's Library has the spell books and you need to talk to the other dragon to get access to the closed off areas. I'm sure Prazac's throne room door never opens without the permission of that guy. One of those Stuff Done Flags that needs the proper event to trigger it.

This area is tedious, but on that level you need to reach a control panel in the southwest corner. Two important buttons to turn off are for places marked: Alpha and Star to allow access to the stairs to the top level from that level and a passage on the lowest level to reach the remaining power spiral that needs to be destroyed before you do the top level. Some of the other buttons will make it easier for the final fight. From the Hint Book:

It should be in your possessions because you click on it to see a crude map with where to go. The entrance doesn't appear until you get the map when you walk around outside where it should be.

Look for a trapdoor on the northwest side to an underground area. This game sometimes requires poking around everywhere to find all the little things hidden away.

The Giant Cave complex has a map hidden away that shows the entrance of the Barrier on the east side of the mountains. You can't find the entrance without getting the map. Bringing down the Barrier finishes the Troglodyte/Giant quest and finding the evidence is helpful. It also now lets you explore the rest of Castle Troglo. To see Prazac, I think, you need to have finished at least 3 plague quests. Or was it 4. I don't know. Go flying off the bridge ere the other side I see.

That Barrier Tunnel is the final part of the Troglodyte/Giant quest chain. Once you get past a certain place and you will know it, you can do all of Castle Troglo.

Erika's Tower requires moving around outside to enter from another direction. Castle Troglo is entered from the bottom after you visit the Giants and get the map to another entrance on the east side of the mountains. Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave your sanity at the door. We have handy jars by the door.

The search function is rarely useful which is why I do a brute force search scrolling down the pages of topics to find what I want. Even entering the exact title of a topic doesn't work.

Then you play some other of Jeff's games like Avernum 5 with the fake hidden switches.

There are a few places where secret doors and passages are triggered by events that have dialogue messages that will indicate it is one time event. These are usually monster ambushes where they won't happen again, but what you mentioned shouldn't be happening. I did that place the first time through so I can't help you with that location.

When you have essence tied up in creations, you can't get that back as long as the creations are alive. When they die or absorb them, then you can get the essence used in them to make new creations or cast spells. Increasing intelligence will give you more essence.

I can never remember the correct order, but from Jeff's hint book:

You can try to find a cheap, older game that can still run on your computer. Something other than Spiderweb games that will give you hours of mindless fun and that you won't care if you ever finish.

I can't remember.

Yes, the fake Anama rings are there to let you get past certain barriers in Shaydar. Of course this will cause other problems. There are ways to remove them so you can go back to getting spells. You don't need the highest ranked magic spells to finish the game. It's just a desire to do everything.