Avernum 2: Stuck in the gauntlet in Erika's tower

[gellerche]

I used the teleporter to get to Erika's Tower and am working my way in.  I got past the first leg where you flip a lever, the floor's set on fire, and you have to get past the gate at the end of the hall before it shuts.  That was only blocked by a skeleton, so I could beat it before the gate shuts.

 

I'm now on a leg where you flip a lever, the floor's full of ice, and you have to get past the gate at the end of the hall before it shuts.  The problem is that the hall's blocked by 3 demons and by the time I beat them, the gate shuts.  I looked for a button on the wall or something to bypass them but don't see anything.  And I can't go back the way I came because I teleported there in the first place and there's no teleporter around.  So I can't go forward or back, which makes the game unplayable.

 

Could someone tell me if I'm missing something, or if the only way through is to beat the 3 demons before the gate shuts?

 

Thanks!

[TriRodent]

IIRC you aren't missing anything (switch or bypass) but have to blast your way through.

 

Do you have an earlier save you could go back to & gain some more experience before coming back to the tower (it will get tougher than this before you reach Erika...)?  Alternately, depending on the difficulty level that you're playing at, you could reduce that temporarily to get past that area & then put it back to where it was.

 

(you 'might' be able to get past the gate if you can get one or two of your characters through before it closes and then exiting combat & hoping everyone gathers on the far side - but I wouldn't count on that to work)

[gellerche]

Got it!  Turns out I was accidentally making it harder than I had to.  As you go down the hall, there's 1 of 2 special tiles you have to step on - one that looks like planks of wood and one that looks like an oriental rug.  Stepping on the oriental one generates another demon and the wood one does nothing. The hall starts with two demons, so if you only step on wood there's only two demons to fight and clearing the hallway is easier.

[theloathable]

Glad you made it through. Another trick you can use if you get stuck in those sorts of situations is switching the combat mode before you step on the tiles. It makes it so you can cover more ground, and you only need to get the "leader" of your party through the gate, then you can 'end combat', and your other party members teleport to the "leader".

 

Edit: Didn't see that Tri already said that. Disregard this post. I needs to read more good.

Edited December 10, 2020 by theloathable