Ishad Nha

Once all four braziers are lit, step onto the green rune.

Once all four lights are lit, step on the green rune in the middle.

Room you could not enter in Pyrog's Cave, there was a secret door in the North of the room. Also, the door opens with Unlock Doors at level 3. Either way, a spell is found there.

For tips on dealing with Doomguards, see my post #113 and the next two posts.

Further comments on evading them:

Apply Sanctuary when the two Doomguards appear. Every move check whether it has worn off. Cast it when leaving one of the side rooms.

Doomguards won't attack the party if all four PCs are in one of the side rooms, then party has a chance to heal up.

Even if you don't know the correct solution to the lever puzzle at first, you should still emerge successful.

Doomguards won't be there when you return to the guardpost!

Third Guardpost is a matter of trial and error, eventually you will figure out a way through. (Not all squares between pillars have special encounters on them.) After this you can return to Harston to rest, before going on to the final barricade and the Fortress itself.

That lever controlled a portcullis in a secret room to the NW of where Josie was held, there is a spell there.

Portal Fortress route, now you meet enemies who are actually nasty.

I went through the Ornotha Ziggurat again and found that it was not that hard. I used spells like Bolt of Fire, Slow, Haste and Bind Foe. Occasionally used Control Foes or Cloud of Blades. Divine Fire was good for dealing with enemy Mages.

Usually I would open the door to a room and look inside. If enemy seemed tough I would cast Beast Ceremony before entering combat.

Party had all the Energy Potions and Energy Elixirs it needed, we picked up two of the latter on the way.

My two front rank guys had low encumbrance 16% and 8% respectively, Defense scores were 9 and 8.

Secret passage that can't be accessed by boat or flight, East of Pyrog's Cave. This may be an error in translation from Exile 2 to Avernum 2. It has a body with a Steel Large Shield. I was only able to access the area with a temporary alteration to Outdoor.dat.

East part of lower level of the Empire Archives, a gate that closes whenever you get near it. You need to enter combat mode, split the party up, then end combat when three of your PCs are in the previously inaccessible west room. There is a level 3 spell there.

Note when the door opens and closes.

Angierach is not so bad, you should be able to find a way to open the front door leading to the outside.

If party is badly beaten up, once you get outside a Recall Crystal can get you back to safety.

For trainable skills, I use Mind Crystals when the PC has trained to a 5 in the skill concerned, hence can't train any further. For other Crystals, I use them on the spot.

I was thinking about First Avernum Trilogy. Rewrite comments in post #6 to:

"If you never choose Save Game As: there will only ever be the one save game. I personally make a new save game every day. There are no automatic saves at any point in any N:R."

Generally, if you are playing a game for the first time you should make new saves regularly.

If you never choose Save Game As: there will only ever be the one save game. I personally make a new save game every day.

There are no automatic saves at any point in any Spiderweb game.

Strange sickness probably means you are carrying strange lumps of metal.

Alchemy: Dharmon, Tower of Magi, Fort Duvno and the Isolated Home.

You missed exploring a few areas, needless to say. If you are curious about what you missed, you can always go back to them later.

When my party started the Ziggurat we had:

15 Energy Potions, 7 Energy Elixirs

Spell energy:

30,30,123,117

herbs:

44,67,72,27,27,23

Party was able to explore all areas and defeat all foes.

Only one enemy was left standing in the Battle Plains, a Wizard. Party could thus come and go at will. Battle Plains is the field just before the Ziggurat, where you have Garzahd.

You may need to make more creative use of spells.

You may find a distinct shortage of places to rest in Ornotha Ziggurat and vicinity...

Did you get Unlock Doors L3 from Erika's Tower? You needed the Blessed Athame to do this.

Locate Borgia Toadstools quest is now easy for you to do:

Talk to Clodeca in the SE part of the town of Egli, he will tell you where the Toadstools are, in the NE part of town. He won't help you with the magical barrier that stops you getting them.

If Killing Hydras for Mancuso gets tough, you can always post a copy of your save game and I can check if there is a bug somewhere.

Unlike say Gold Box games of the early 90s, there are no slots for saving games. To create a wholly new save game file you will need to access the File Menu, click on the floppy disk icon in the toolbar.

Jeff may have intended that the Vahnatai Fortress be done soon after meeting the Council in Olgai. It seemed fairly easy.

You always complain about being hit with Slow, Mass Haste cures the Slow in one hit, usually. Once the Slow has been taken care of, Mass Haste hastes every PC, just the thing for a tough fight. You are heading for some tough fights...

Locate Borgia Toadstools, read the Spoiler in post #144.

Hydra quest, have you already killed them, check back with Aeon in Mancuso? If not, walk north from Mancuso. This outdoor zone is full of secret passages, you really need to probe every dead end.

For tips on dealing with Doomguards, see my post #113 and the next two posts.

Enla is in the room to the NE of Ostoth in the Cave of Motrax, "near Formello" should not be taken too literally. (The hidden room with the Safe Travel spell is to the north of Enla.)

Locate Borgia Toadstools quest is now easy for you to do:

Ditto Safe Travel level 3 is easy for you to do, go to Motrax's Lair.

Blessed Athame: Caves of Chaos in the Waterfall Warrens, you have to do both levels completely.

You could do with level 3 Safe Travel and level 3 Haste too.

There is no warning that you are about to do it, no warning that you should take a back route...

In the Trapped Halls of Sixus, there are two possible endings:

(1) he commits suicide in unjustified fear of you

(2) he realizes you are decent Avernites

To get the second ending:

It may not be Reputation, this is the relevant pair of messages:

As you reach the top of the stairs, the altar starts to flash red and get hot. A wave of searing wind throws you back.

As you reach the top of the stairs, the altar starts to flash red and get hot. A wave of searing wind tries to throw you back, but the holy energy you can summon cuts through the heat. You can proceed.

What "holy energy" means I don't know. Priest Spells level?

Altar to the SE of Sss-Thss's throne room: your reputation may be a problem. If it is high enough your holiness enables you to push past the altar and find the secret door. There is not much in the secret passage.