Randomizer

First you need the artifact information from the Nameless Mage back in Krizan. If you never talked to him and paid him than you can search forever without finding the Tower in the southwest corner of the island.

It is kind of narrow at the top of the stairs, but that is the first time I've seen that. Avernum used to have that coming out of combat but it never killed the game.

Eventually you find something there and visiting Sandros Mine seems to help it appear sooner.

There should be a message that you see the Council for news about a location, but go to the Shrine when you actually have the Souls. You can't cross the bridge to the Shrine until you have retrieved the first Crystal.

If you have enough leadership (10) so Eessarian will convince them to let you past in the Cultist Safehouse some strange things will occur. Sniping the stray cultist to kill them after they are no longer hostile causes them to fight amongst themselves. Soon the cultists, leaders, and cryodrayks will attack each other and only some will be hostile to you. It speeds up killing them. Fixed typo.

Being able to use mouse or keyboard makes it easier for whatever way is easiest for you. I hate when I'm just a little off with the cursor and move my character instead of attacking with it. The old interface needs a lot of upgrading and there are several nice features from A4/GF4 that could be used. I'm old enough to have used an Apple II+ and remember before personal computers. I still have decks of punchcards from college.

I got almost no experience in the expert area (~250 XP), The number of monsters left that give anything is almost nil.

Thornton and the Western Barrier Zone do warn you after you finally kill the first creation that this might not be a good idea, If you have the passage bracelet then you can kill them one at a time and the others won't attack. Turabi Gate is one that you really need to sneak through for the 2 quests and the great loot. I've never been able to sneak through it like you did Synergy without setting off an alarm a few times. Western Morass is doable with an army or a lot of terror spells for the guards and torrent gems to kill the Vlish when they come enmass.

I'm running a missle shock trooper with initially fire shaping creations and later magic shaping. No canister usage and only shaper approved creations. This won't be an optimized build, but should be powerful enough to get by with the limited magic abilities. Of course I'll steal everything but the kitchen sink, since a girl's got to have money to buy the finer things in life. Chapter 1 - The Forsaken Lands Cordy was a naive girl that fell for the Rebel recruitment stories and found herself cast ashore at the Rebel docks with that arrogant jerk Tyrol and that coward Magda under the command of Greta. Fleeing from the Shaper raiders she reached the safety of Southforge Citadel. Eager to help repel the invaders she used the Geneforge only to endure it's intense anguish. This made her resolve never to use the canisters that could warp her even more. Raising her mechanics to 6 and her leadership to 4 she strolled through the testing area killing the worms and other creations left behind by the raiders. She helped out that twerp Jared get his locked door opened, but shunned his reward. She did help herself to the few coins he had since she deserved something for her efforts. She went back to the docks and gathered up everything that was left behind including from the locked boxes. Talking to Greta she went to talk to the prisoner, Agent Miranda, and tricked her into revealing the Shaper Camp location. She helped Dassa with the mines, calmed Torchlight, found where the stolen supplies were stashed and looted everything that wasn't being watched. With fire shaping at 7 and more leadership she created her first cryoa Frost and the two set out to see the Forsaken Lands and find the madwoman Shaila. After clearing the Citadel Gates, she ordered the thahds to patrol the area to protect her work. She explored the Boiling Mudpits and after tricking the thahd she killed it with some icy crystals. The roamer was next and then she deactivated the mines and electrified fields to get the reflecting shield, coated cloak, and discipline wand. She even ventured to the Boiling Caverns to unlock the doors. With her mechanics now at 8 and a point for luck she finished the mines and returned to Southforge Citadel. She exchanged her chitin armor for that nice spidersilk robe. Going south into Crenshaw Dells she dazed the creations and chased Tycho until he yeilded to her superiority. Looting the area she reported Tycho killed and got her next mission. Clearing the Shardfield of the worms, thahds, artila, and fyoras she helped Dinitia explore the area. On to the Shaper Camp where she figured why not take all their supplies to help her cause. While there she blessed and protected herself and Frost and killed the battle alpha with 2 icy crystals and a shot from the discipline wand. The glaahk followed next and lasted to a second round. Crowley paid her for saving Tycho and gave her that nice stability bauble. Then it was off to clear the Forsaken Docks from Shaila's creations and the serviles that tended them. A few dazes and the cryoa killing each tender and it was soon over. She died a few times when she strayed too close to the next group, Selling off the loot she now increased her intelligence and created another cryoa Rime. The threesome defeated Shaila's creations and convinced her to go to the Shapers. Getting her reward from General Crowley she decided to wait on informing Greta while she thought things over. Another point of intelligence and missle weapons helped her clear the Sinkhole Bridge and rescue the Rebel scouts. Then it was clearing the battle alphas from Chickweed Bridge and the mines. That jerk Burkes was good enough to teach her spellcraft and augmentation when she raised her leadership to 6. The drayk was troublesome since the cryoa missed once and she barely killed it after a few tries. Therile Colony was next and she followed Yves to his stash and killed him when he finally spotted her. Trell was easily cowwed and robbed. Then Mercadia was looted and her mission taken. Finally she returned to the Citadel to claim her rewards. She stopped by the Cells and killed the Maddened Servile and the glaahk, Then it was on to escort the Caravan to the Cairn Gates. Sinkhole Bridge had been cleared, but she still had to clear the Spirefield. The fyoras fell first, then the Shapers and their venom turrets, then the artilas, and finally the rats. Looting the fallend bodies she even found a servile lying under a bush past the rats with a fiery wand. She picked up the nimble belt, but her cryoa had a hard time biting the shade so she killed it with her stolen venom baton. Escorting the caravan, she had her cryoas out in front to get the pyroroamers. The dumping pit was a grind, but she got through and cleared it out for her reward. The money was enough to get a second spellcraft from Burkes and then she sold him out for his attitude. Then it was on to clear Cairn Gates of Lethos and his creations with a few spray crystals. The guards were dazed and killed. Determined that no one would suffer the pain of the Geneforge she turned the caravan over to the tentacles of the vlish. Level 14, health 117, essence 51/115, spell energy 202, skill points 2 Strength 4, dexterity 2, intelligence 6 (+1), endurance 3 melee weapons 3, missle weapons 4, quick action 1, parry 1 battle magic 1, mental magic 2, blessing magic 1, spellcraft 2 fire shaping 7, battle shaping 2, magic shaping 1, healing craft 3 leadership 7, mechanics 8, luck 1 (+1) Equipment - spidersilk robe, steel shield, steel sword, venom baton, shaped boots, gauntlets, coated cloak, swamp pants, chilling band, stability bauble, girdle of intelligence, lucky charm, fyora fang charm. Saving all the pods and spores except for battle and shielding pods. I sold some gemstones and red crystals to raise money early for spellcraft. I still have 20+ icy crystals and a few spray crystals. Saving up essence for augmentation for Cordy and the next creations in chapter 3. On to Illya and the safehouse.

With a lifecrafter army of two drakons, two kyshakks, and a drayk I went all the way to the end. You have to thin them out with repeated attacks and leaving the zone to draw out the initial troops. Push through the field to shut off the control and retreat again. Finally the big push through the minefield and kill the remaining shaper troops. Then you find 4 shaping platforms churning out war tralls, kyshakks, rothizons (?), and wingbolts. It's not worth it by the time you can do it since the best treasure is the drops from killing them near the entrance.

You could do a prequel with the first Romans sent to map out the area for that fort versus the Celts trying to discourage them. The ending wouldn't be as great but this could explain why the Sidhe split into two factions and answer some of the questions about how various NPCs got where they are. I predict the people that most want to be beta testers are the ones that want the game and don't want to wait a day longer.

There is some treasure and a spellbook somewhere. Mostly it's just experience and a chance to put the undead back underground where they belong.

Actually with the power requirements to reach that far underground their were only two portals. The prisoner one to Fort Avernum and the military one that led to the base near the Abyss. Now surface portals between the continents were probably more common and not just by Ernest. However because of the military applications to transport armies they were probably kept under wraps.

Finally got around to finishing up the game so this is an update before using the control panel. I created a drakon after chapter 4 using volcanic fetish, flameweaver greaves, shaper robe, and shapemaster boots for +6 fire shaping levels to make it level 40. Level 43, health 376 (338 with gruesome charm), strength 9 (+5), dexterity 5 (+4), intelligence 9 (+5), endurance 8 (-2), melee wpns. 5 , missle wpns. 6, quick action 5 (+1), parry 6, battle magic 10 (+6), mental magic 8 (+1), blessing magic 6 (+1/3 when needed), spellcraft 10 (+9), starting shaping, healing craft 6 (+1), leadership 10 (+2), mechanics 11 (+1/+6 when needed), luck 3 (+1). Equipment: All the charms with 4 mental focus charms (3 made) Ring of Eye's Purity Reaper baton Puresteel plate Girdle of genius Talisman of might Agent cloak Stability boots Puresteel shield Flameweaver's greaves Lodestone gauntlets Alternate equipment - Tinker's gloves and bauble Infiltrator's cloak and tunic Clover boots Captain's shiv Frost blade I wasn't really satisfied with the way I made the character. I should have put less into leadership, blessing magic, and melee weapons so I could have had more for spellcraft and battle magic. I tended to run out spell energy for the powerful spells. Still a servile can do pretty well as a spellcaster instead of as a fighter.

I love the wish fish since I had vague memories of reading that story. Jeff's fish's muttering were so funny that I kept it as a journal note.

I got thahdskin tunics the first 2 times I played and haven't got one since until I reach West Illya Road. I must have tried over 12 times with no luck in Shardfield.

There are some places where you can get a list of what affects reputation. Page 1 and Page 2 You can get an approximate reputation value by seeing if you qualify for rewards.

Maybe Jeff will revise the spell list a bit. It has been years since Nethergate first came out and he's had plenty of feedback to work with both here and with the Avernum games.

Quote: QUESTION: +4 Levels Damage In Combat which the Lodestone Greaves are currently giving me..this would be like adding 4 to Melee or Missle Skills, yes? If I remember from my own experience they show up in melee weapons only on the statistics page. You can check quickly by taking the off and on again. Not too many items that help missle weapons except dexterity items like footgear and belts and the farsight plate reward. I'd go with spellcraft for increased damage and intelligence since later on in the game the powerful spells burn through spell energy even though you have plenty of essence available. I hated wasting an essence pod just to get one more mass madness or aura of flames.

Fire creations tend to work the best if you want to concentrate on one shaping skill. Fyora, drayk, and drakon all never run out of power for their missle attacks. Kyshakks are the perfect shield since their health is so high you don't need to increase their health with augmentation or essence shield/armor for most areas. Even the roamer is nice since the acid attack adds to early damage. The creation 3 versions are best for the cryoa and cryodrayk even though they may run out of power. The ur-drakon comes so late that it is almost useless. For magic creations the artila is great at the start but runs out of power in long battles. The wingbolt, gazer, and eyebeast are better for their high missle damage and decent melee attacks when they run out of power. They have enough health to last through most fights.

I think I read that Jeff didn't like the missing class as a glass cannon. However since it is easy to add a little to endurance it isn't that weak and I ran an effective endurance 1 lifecrafter through the betas to near the end. Having an effective endurance of 4 with the gruesome charm gives plenty of health at the end with augmentation and essence armor. A few powerful creations and that class would have been even nastier than what we have now. Spells are deadly at the end. A mass madness with high spellcraft can turn most of your enemies into allies. Two aura of flames will destroy all the wingbolts on the screen. Two essence orbs will almost destroy war tralls. With elemental cloak, steel skin, and protection (I think that is a 25% reduction in damage) you can withstand half a dozen kyshakks and most other attackers to finish them in the next round.

The Anama spellbooks dumbfound you if you try to read them with fake rings. You still can rob the treasury.

Since all of the games that started in Avernum were in the northeast it will probably be the river near Fort Avernum, near Formello, or Fort Draco, The Formello river is closest to the Vahnatai area. I hope Solberg gets a bigger role than Avernum 4. Also X should have more than the one quest.

Synergy - to get past the Soul Twins as a singleton you need the spells from chapter 3. First slip just north of the pile of skulls out of their attack range and finish with a haste or mass energize. Then move one step forward and hit each with essence shackles to even up the game. I found a pair of swarm crystals followed by a healing spell for myself kept me healthy enough to finish them off. You may need another endurance point for more health or remove the gruesome charm for this encounter. You pretty much need major heal for the old golem. Spine shield actually does more damage to him than you usually do, I found having a pair of channelers in chapter 3 to be awesome since each add +7 to spellcraft, Firebolts were doing 150+ and the other spells were over 200. Since you start getting no experience on kills here there isn't a point in running singleton too much.

Reading The Saga of the Insidious Infiltrator will give you some hints on how to pick up extra experience and what order to do things in to avoid getting in over your head. There are ways to get easy experience that will help you early in the game. Lifecrafter, servile, and infiltrator are the most powerful classes in the game. The warrior and shock trooper are handicapped by their low magic abilities and are harder to play.