My CSB journey.

[RogerS]

It would probably have taken me longer to get anywhere if I had played this game back in my Amiga days

Anyway, I decided it was time to move on. I quickly checked Supplies for the Quick, but it was still empty, then I climbed down a pit there.

I filled up on water and stepped into the teleporter to the junction. I did some quick inventory management, then decided to have a quick look in Neta again to check out areas I might have missed.

Down the hallway, I came to a door that opened to the screamer room, and I grabbed a few screamer slices to fill up my food bars. I checked out the parts of the other room I hadn't explored, but there was nothing there, so I went down stairs to the worm flood area and took the teleporter back to the junction (although at this point it might be more accurate to call it the junk-tion, with all the stuff cluttering up the place ).

I wanted to go back to the "pray for a miracle" place I had ended up in on my first failed attempt at Neta. After a failed attempt at getting there, I was eventually able to get there (with some help of a couple of screamer slices to check for teleporters) and grabbed the key. As I suspected, it was a key of B, so now I have 4 of them

I went down the Dain path, and came to a gate with some pressure plates behind it. I went in, then took a left. There I encountered an oitu, and another oitu attacked me from the right. They were easy enough to deal with.

There was not much in the room the oitu had been guarding except a shank on the floor and some stairs up.

Upstairs there was a 3x3 room with an empty waterskin in it, and nothing else.

When I went into the other corridor (right from where I had originally entered the pressure plates junction), I was confronted by two more oituses, and another one attacked me from behind. I came to another area pretty similar to the first one, and there were some stairs up here as well. When I went up these stairs, there was just a solid wall in front of me.

[RogerS]

I went back to the pressure plate junction and took the central path, casting some shield spells beforehand.

At the end of the central path, there was another oitu which I killed. I turned around, and sure enough there was an oitu down the hall. I went up to it and killed it with a little bit of help from the gate there.

Continuing on, there was a blue mist straight ahead and one to the left. When I stepped into the one ahead, I was immediately teleported back to the same spot but facing the other mist.

The mist to the left teleported me to the other side of it, into a small room with a couple of pits and some stairs down. Downstairs was another small room with a couple of pits and some stairs further down. At the bottom of those stairs, there was only a solid wall in front of me, so I went all the way back upstairs again.

I went to the right of the teleporter, and came to an area that was a labyrinth of teleporters. The teleporter on the leftmost path just teleported me to the spot in front of it. The one in the middle both teleported me to the same spot and also turned me around.

The one on the right teleported me somewhere else (presumably to the other side of it). While I was standing there after having been teleported, I kept hearing the teleport sound from time to time.

I did see an oitu somewhere behind a teleporter a short distance away. I stepped into a middle teleporter with a wall behind it, and I was teleported to an area with some clothes (a kirtle and a gunna), and a hallway leading away.

I went down the hallway and tried the teleporter directly in front, but it didn't lead anywhere. I took a left, and there were some more teleporters but also a clear path that led to some stairs up.

Upstairs, I was immediately confronted with some rives. They didn't seem to do any damage though, and were fairly easy to kill with Disrupt attacks.

Afterwards I went down the hallway, and came to a big room. There was a blue box on the floor in a niche, but I didn't bother with it. I saw an inscription on the wall that said "Laughing pit", and some more rives came and ineffectively attacked me. The vorpal blade made short work of them. There was not much else of interest in this room except a couple of more blue boxes, but I did notice that the laughing pit seemed to close briefly at regular intervals.

I waited for the pit to close again, then quickly stepped on it and to the side.

At the end of the corridor, I met 4 more rives. They were still unable to damage me, but it would have been nice to have two vorpal blades in this area. After I dealt with them, I came to a door locked by a gold lock.

Behind that door, there were a series of doors that had no obvious way to open them. Chopping with the Executioner didn't work, but each of them were destroyed by a Mon level fireball.

I came to another hallway with a door and a pressure plate, and some more rives guarding the area. After I had killed those rives, the door closed behind me when I stepped on the pressure plate.

At the end of this hallway there was a room completely filled with rives and a few water elementals. The rives were pretty easy, as they didn't do any damage and died in a few hits, the only issue being the sheer number of them. The water elementals occasionally were able to hit me (with up to 52 damage in one of the attacks but usually less), but the vast majority of their attacks were missing anyway. They were a lot more durable than the rives.

After I had killed some rives and a couple of water elementals, I decided I wanted to take advantage of the rives' inability to hurt me, and moved Wu Tse and Elija to the front to try to get a fighter level and a ninja level. I kept attacking the rives with regular weapons for a several minutes, occasionally stopping to cast a couple of rounds of buffing potions when my mana bars were full. They haven't gained a fighter level yet though. I'm not sure how close they are to leveling up in fighter, it's likely that they barely had reached expert level before I transferred them to CSB. I might try punching instead to try to gain a ninja level with them.

The room still seems to be completely covered in rives, and I also see a water elemental or two. With only one vorpal blade, it might take a while. I might have to supplement with some Des Ew spells to speed things up.

[RogerS]

I decided to have Wu Tse and Elija try punching the rives instead. I kept punching them for the longest time, only interrupted by rounds of buffing, and then suddenly Elija gained a fighter level. This didn't make much sense, since I thought punching gave ninja experience. I guess maybe they were getting fighter experience for getting attacked, despite not receiving any damage. A little bit later, Wu Tse also gained a fighter level while punching away at the rives.

This went on for a while, but no ninja levels in sight. At some point I had to make a stamina potion for them, and I also had to pause to let each of my characters eat a dragon steak, all while rives where screaming at me.

I started having doubts whether punching actually gave ninja experience instead of fighter experience, so I paused the game and went on the Dungeon Master Encyclopedia and looked it up. The technical documentation there confirmed that punching is indeed meant to give ninja experience. I did briefly try kicking as well, but it didn't seem to make much difference.

I eventually grew tired of repeatedly clicking "Punch", so I gave up and started casting Um level Des Ew spells while switching between characters, until Wu Tse gained Um master wizard. When that happened, I gave Elija the vorpal blade and made him attack with it while my team were regenerating their mana.

Once their mana had increased a bit, I started casting more Des Ew spells, then back to having Elija disrupt with the vorpal blade.

Soon, there were no more rives or water elementals in the immediate vicinity of the spot I had been standing in. Despite this, Elija didn't gain a wizard level yet.

I briefly took a step forward and looked around, and saw some more rives and a water elemental, so I stepped back again. I cast some more Des Ew spells and let Elija continue to use the vorpal blade. Right after killing another water elemental, Elija finally went up to Um master wizard as well

I briefly stepped into the room, and saw a closed gate to the left with some stairs behind it, and saw something blue on the opposite wall. I then spotted another water elemental, so I started fighting it.

I found I could now do the circle strafe tactic on it, which I briefly did until I saw another water elemental approaching, at which point I moved back to the corridor to avoid getting surrounded.

After a few swings with the vorpal blade and a few Des Ew spells, that one was dealt with, and the last one I attacked with Des Ew spells and finished off with the vorpal blade.

Elija had taken a little bit of damage and injured his head, and everyone else were in fine shape. I could finally take a bit of a breather.

Now I was free to explore the rest of the room. The blue thing on the wall looks like it's a button. On the other side of the room opposite the gate there are two small holes in the wall. In the corner of the room in a small nook there is a lever and also a Pendant Feral on the floor which I picked up.

I'll explore what all these do the next time I play.

[Paul Stevens]

On the other side of the room opposite the gate there are two small holes in the wall.

Someday you will discover how to use those holes to make life with
Water Elementals and Rives a bit easier. (one of many 'more-ways-than-one'
techniques offered by Chaos Strikes Back.)

[Ameena]

I certainly remember how we dealt with the Water Elementals in the Cistern area "back in the day"...didn't involve those holes, though.

[RogerS]

The lever opened the gate, and the blue button teleported me back to the area just before the gold locked door. I still don't know what the holes in the wall do. Based on Paul Stevens' comment, I kind of expected the lever to make the holes fire Des Ew spells when I pulled the lever, but it only opened the gate.

I went up the stairs. Upstairs there was a long hallway that led to a locked door and a large room where I saw some fireballs flying around.

Upon further inspection, the large room had some blue mists, some holes where the fireballs were coming out of, a gate and a button on the wall. I was also attacked by a rive there.

I put on some fireshields, then walked through the center of the room and came to an alchove that had another vorpal blade and an onyx key.

When I picked up the key and the vorpal blade, the nearby fireballs seems to have gotten a lot bigger and more frequent, and I was also attacked by a few rives. Luckily killing them now went twice as fast since I had an extra vorpal blade.

When I tried placing a dagger in the alchove, I heard a clicking sound again, and saw that a wall opened with a gate behind it. When I tried removing the dagger again, the wall closed. I put the dagger back to keep the wall open. I saved in a new slot just in case I had somehow screwed myself over in any way.

The onyx key opened the gate after a couple of seconds, and it led to a room with two fountains, a spare compass (which I picked up to have in case my current one gets stolen), and a gold key. There was also a fake wall there.

I filled up on water, and also had everyone eat a dragon steak. I did a count of my remaining food, and I have 18 dragon steaks and a shank. Hopefully that should be more than enough food to get me through the rest of Dain.

When I had I peek through the fake wall, I met a couatl. I retreated back to the small room and did the circle dance with it there until it was dead. It dropped a rabbit's foot and an orange gem.

As I did a couple of rounds of buffing potions after the fight, Elija went up to Ee master priest during the second round. I imagine the rest of my characters are very close to gaining a priest level as well

When I looked at the area behind the fake wall again, I saw a pressure plate on the floor, and there was also another fake wall that led to another small area. This looks like it might be an interesting area.

Current stats:

Nabi:
Um master fighter
Um master ninja
On master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 685
Stamina: 631
Mana: 228

Syra:
Um master fighter
Lo master ninja
On master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 668
Stamina: 681
Mana: 215

Wu Tse:
Lo master fighter
Expert ninja
On master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 573
Stamina: 381
Mana: 220

Elija:
Lo master fighter
Expert ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 638
Stamina: 478
Mana: 236

[Paul Stevens]

This looks like it might be an interesting area.

Yes...indeed. Depending.

[RogerS]

This looks like it might be an interesting area.

Yes...indeed. Depending.

Doesn't sound ominous at all, no sir

Anyway, I finally decided to finish Dungeon Master

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=31398

[RogerS]

I went through the corridor behind the fake wall, and behind another fake wall there was a large room with some pits in it.

Entrance into the room was blocked by a couple of pits, but when I stepped on the pressure plate, one of the pits closed.

I found a niche with a cryptic scroll that had some letters on it, and buttons on each wall. I suspect the N W E S letters (corresponding to compass directions) around a blank space on the left side of the scroll has something to do with a nearby pillar surrounded by pits on each side.

There were multiple concealed pits as well, and as I navigated my way through them, I also encountered a couple of couatls.

At the end, I encountered a lock with an "E" symbol on it, and there was also a button on one of the walls in another niche.

As I made another round of buffing potions, Nabi leveled up to Ee master priest by the way.

When I pushed the button in the niche close to the lock, a wall opened and there were some stairs down.

Downstairs there was a wall directly in front of me, but the wall to the right was a fake wall. Behind it there was a square with a door to the left and a pit to the right. There was also a water elemental standing on the closed door.

The closed door yielded to a chop with the executioner, and behind it was another large room.

I carefully made my way around the room in a counter clockwise direction while knocking on the walls. After a few steps I saw the inscription "The cistern" on the wall. Later, I came to a locked door and a couple of blue mists. One of the mist briefly disappeared before reappearing again.

The door opened with an onyx key. At first I only found a weak ful bomb, and was about to reload but noticed that there was a fake wall to the left with a corridor behind it. The corridor led to what seems to be another part of the room, seemingly bypassing some teleporters. I reloaded anyway and decided to see if I could get there without wasting an onyx key.

I was able to get to the same area without using the key with a bit of patience, waiting for a couple of teleporters to turn off. Wu Tse went up to Ee master priest during another round of buffing spells.

A button in the northernmost part of the room opened a wall after a couple of seconds, revealing some stairs up. Upstairs, I have the option to go left down a corridor, or into a large room on the right.

[RogerS]

I went right into the large room and and started knocking on walls. There was a hallway to the east, and a couple of pits to the south.

At the end of the hallway, there was a door. It didn't get destroyed by the Executioner, but a Mon level fireball blew it open.

After I went through the door, I saw a large room to the left, and when I stepped into it I realized that it was the room where I had found the second vorpal blade earlier. There was also a rive there which I easily killed.

I made a couple of rounds of buffing potions, and during the second round, Syra went up to Ee master priest. A rive also started attacking me while I was making the second round of potions, so I dealt with it once I had finished doing that.

When I stepped into the room again, I encountered a couple of more rives. After I had dealt with them, I tried pushing the button that I hadn't tried earlier, and it spawned a slime devil. After I had killed the slime devil, I went over to the gate but it was still closed. I suspected I might have been too slow, so I tried pushing the button again and running over to the gate, but it remained closed. Another slime devil had spawned, so I'm not sure what that button does besides spawning slime devils. Just before I left, I was attacked by another rive, and I saw another one further into the room.

After killing the rive, I went back to the other large room that had the row of 3 pits to the south. I saw a pressure plate in the distance behind the easternmost pit, so I tried throwing a rock there, but it turns out there wasn't a wall behind that pressure plate so it just flew past.

I went into the corridor from the left from the stairs instead. I came to another room that had a couple of pits and a pillar in the middle.

When I stepped into that room, a couple of couatls suddenly appeared. They caught me off guard a bit, because I still had my vorpal blades equipped from when I was fighting a rive earlier.

I stepped back into the corridor and switched weapons. I did a few melee attacks against the first one, but realized that most of the attacks were missing, so I started throwing fireballs at them instead. The couatls died from two Ee level fireballs each.

I went left, and halfway down a corridor there was a fountain. I let my characters each have a sip of water, even though their water bars were nearly full. At the end of that corridor was another fountain.

The corridor continued on taking a few twists and turns, but I didn't find anything. Eventually I came to a dead end, and a couatl came from behind and attacked me.

I didn't see any obvious ways to progress further in this area, so I went back down the stairs again.

Downstairs, I continued knocking on walls while going in a counter clockwise direction. I ended up in an area with another compass and an apple on the floor. I picked up the compass to have as a second spare (even though it's highly unlikely I'll ever need it), and gave the apple to my hungriest character.

I made my way back, checking the opposite walls to the ones I had been checking earlier. I eventually found a skeleton on the floor that had some fairly useless stuff. I also fought a water elemental there.

The first teleporter that had initially been turned on an off now seemed to be permanently stuck on, so after waiting for a while I decided to just step into it. It took me back to the part of the room with the "cistern" inscription on the wall.

I encountered more water elementals there, and they seemed to be spawning. I found out that I could lure them over to floor drains, and they would disappear down them.

I started to suspect that the puddles on the floor had something to do with them spawning, so I started avoiding them. When I stepped on one that I couldn't avoid to proceed, sure enough a water elemental spawned right afterwards.

At the other end of the large room, I found an iron key on the floor and a button on one of the walls. Pushing the button removed a wall and revealed some stairs down.

[Ameena]

Haha yes, the "lure them over the drain" trick in the Cistern...yup, good times .

[RogerS]

The stairs down just took me back to the area with the pressure plates junction again, so I went back up, then went back out the blown up door and up the stairs again to where I had initially come from.

I went back to the niche with the 3 buttons and initially tried pressing the middle one, then went back to the path I had been on to check if any of the pits had closed, but the hadn't. I was attacked by a couple of couatls on the way.

I then tried pressing the other 2 buttons. That seemed to have released a few more couatls in the area, but none of the pits seemed to have closed.

When I went back towards the room with the fountains in it where I had initially entered this area, a wall by the pressure plate had now opened, and I came to an inscription that read "Wrong right left" and there were a couple of green buttons on the walls to the left of it.

I tried clicking the left button, then the right, and that closed a pit in front of the pillar and allowed me to pick up the winged key.

While I stood back at the buttons making some buffing potions, I was suddenly attacked by 3 couatls, and Elija got dangerously low on health. Once the script had finished, I immediately created a healing potion for Elija and then I started throwing a few fireballs at couatls until they were all dead.

I started going back towards the winged lock. I met a few more couatls on the way and had to briefly retreat back to the exit of the fake walls area, and I was now very low on mana. One of the couatls dropped a Ra key.

I went back to the room with the fountains in it and had a quick nap to regain some mana.

After I woke up, I cast a couple of more rounds of buffing potions. During the second round, I once again was attacked by a couatl that had strayed into the room. I had room to maneuver here and there was only one of them, so I killed it with melee weapons.

Afterwards, I did another round of buffs, filled up on water, then started heading towards the winged key lock again. I met another couatl on the way, and another one came flying towards me when I had reached the lock. I killed them both with fireballs.

Using the winged key on the lock opened up a wall. A rive appeared behind me as I was looking down the area where the wall had opened, standing on an open pit. After I had dealt with that, a couatl appeared behind me.

I'll explore the area that just opened the next time.

[RogerS]

In the new area there was a large room, and a corridor to the right. I went right, went past a small room with a pit, and came to some stairs up and some stairs down at the end of the corridor.

I went downstairs, and there was a blue mist behind a concealed pit, and a door that I couldn't destroy with a melee weapon nor a fireball that seemed to have some creature behind it (I saw something blue with a bit of red moving). There was also a corridor to the left.

I went down the corridor and came to an intersection. To the right there was a pit, and to the left was a room with a cheese in it and another pit.

I went to the middle, and a corridor continued to the right. I came to a gold lock with an open door, and beyond there were the doors I had destroyed with fireballs earlier just before entering the room with all the rives and water elementals. I headed all the way back, and took the stairs up instead.

Upstairs was another corridor that led to another set of stairs up. When I went up those stairs, I came to the stairs up to DDD again.

I put on some fireshields, then went upstairs. I ran right past the rockpiles and into the room with 3 demons. I went left, cast shield spells and faced the demons, attacking them with melee weapons. I killed the first two like that while they were throwing ineffective fireballs at me and occasionally hitting me with physical attacks. Sometimes they got hit with friendly fire from another demon as well.

Once the first two were dead, I stepped into the room and I employed the usual tactic of hitting and moving on that one.

When the last demon was dead, I noticed that a rock pile was about to enter the room, so I stepped on the pressure plate causing it to drop into the pit.

I went to the left and decided to move Wu Tse and Elija to the front to repeatedly punch the black flame there. Once Elija had gone up to Lo master ninja, I just had Wu Tse punching it, and she leveled up almost immediately afterwards. Luckily the whole process only took a minute or two.

Once that was done with, I moved Nabi and Syra back to the front and let them kill the black flame with their vorpal blades.

Behind the black flame there was just the closed gate again with the black flame behind it, so I moved to a different part of the room.

In the north of the room where the wall had opened up to the stairwell when I was doing Neta, there was a corridor to the east with four buttons on the walls and a blue mist at the end which teleported me in place.

I carefully clicked one of the buttons then quickly stepped out of the hallway and to the side, but nothing happened. I then pressed the remaining buttons and the teleporter disappeared.

At the end of this hallway I came to a door with a green lock, and an inscription on the wall that said "Ros". Obviously this was not the right way to go, so I went back.

I went back to the gate where I had killed the black flame and had another look, but couldn't find anything obvious there to allow me to open the gate. Also another demon spawned, so I quickly cast fireshields and dealt with that one.

I'll need to figure out a way to progress further from here. Maybe I'll use the built in hint function again.

Current stats:

Nabi:
Um master fighter
Um master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 712
Stamina: 668
Mana: 243

Syra:
Um master fighter
Lo master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 688
Stamina: 715
Mana: 228

Wu Tse:
Lo master fighter
Lo master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 620
Stamina: 420
Mana: 235

Elija:
Lo master fighter
Lo master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 660
Stamina: 510
Mana: 236

[RogerS]

The hint function wasn't really useful here. There was a hint called "Looking back" which just said that a demon might appear behind me.

I decided to try going down the "Trust me" pit again and up the stairs. I tried putting a stone club on the pressure plate there, but nothing happened besides disabling the green blob spitter.

I went back down and through the dragons lair. I picked up the remaining dragon steaks there and then went up the stairs, casting fireshields just before I went up.

At the top of the stairs I encountered a group of 4 rockpiles. After I had dealt with them and a black flame, I went to the pressure plate next to the "Trust me" pit and tried standing on it and also placing a boulder on it, but the pit in front of the green blob spitter didn't close.

I also tried going to the square that removed the wall, then tried throwing a boulder over the pit in front of the green blob spitter, but nothing happened.

I tried going back to the closed gate again. The black flame had respawned again, so I removed Syra's vorpal blade and tried having her punch it repeatedly. After about a minute or so with no ninja level gain, I gave up and killed it.

I stepped forward, but nothing seemed to have changed there. Another demon had spawned behind me and was throwing fireballs at me, so I stepped into the larger room and dealt with it.

I tried to go down the "Trust me" pit again, go up the stairs and save in front of the pit in front of the spitter, then loading the hint function. That didn't help, because there was only an "Insult to injury" hint that said it would be useful to put something on the pressure plate to stop the spitter while fighting a deth knight.

I seem to be stuck now. Some hints would be appreciated so that I don't have to risk spoiling too much by looking at a map.

[Ameena]

Okay . So let's see...as you can probably tell by now, each of the four Ways has a "Part One" that leads from the Junction to the DDD, and then a "Part Two" which leads to the Corbum Pillar. Each "Part Two" is unlocked by a unique key found in "Part One" of the respective Way. I'll list them all here so you can confirm what and then where they are but of course you've already found/don't need most of them...

Ku

Spoiler

Solid key

Spoiler

This is in the possession of the dragon on the bottom-most level of the dungeon, the toughest in the game, who lives in a lair mostly by himself although there are worms that can spawn nearby. I seem to recall he laso drops some bones and, like, chainmail or something. Probably a sword, can't remember. Anyway I know you've dealt with him.

Neta

Spoiler

Turquoise key

Spoiler

It's flying backwards and forwards alongside a chest in that room you've already described going to.

Ros

Spoiler

Emerald key

Spoiler

This is found in the Dragon Maze (that bit with all the illusory walls, pits, and low-hp dragons). It's just kind of on the floor somewhere amid the walls (if you stand in the spot you will be surrounded by walls/"walls" on all sides).

Dain

Spoiler

Ruby key

Spoiler

Now I can't fully remember the exact details on this one because it's usually just a case of somewhat frantic chaos in which I charge in and try to get the key and leg it ASAP. There's an area with loads of flying snakes, I seem to remember like a more open area with pits and stuff. Somewhere on the wall is some text that just reads "Bridge". I think you cross the room from there between the pits or something and there's a sort of "island" of walls in the middle, with the text "Prove you are a wizard". Figure that one out and you should be able to get the key. Another spoiler below for the solution if you really need it, though...

Spoiler

There's an eye in the wall around there too - show it a Zokathra spell.

Hope some of that is helpful, at least. If I remember rightly, I think I tend to use another technique these days to get that final corbum...

Spoiler

I think you can sneak around from the Ros side over a fake pit. Can't remember for certain though, but I really can't remember what "Dain Part Two" is like and I can remember bits about the other three, which would support the idea at least .

[RogerS]

Thank you Ameena

I don't have the Ruby Key, so I will have to head back and try to find it.

[Antman]

I've enjoyed reading through your progress! A couple of quick hints:

Spoiler

You were very, very close to getting what you need and have already done the hard work. After you used the winged key to open a wall it sounds like you went right, try the other direction

After entering the DDD, check out right hand side (across a pit where which a demon helped you close earlier). Opening a door to free a prisoner here could help you progress.

[RogerS]

I'm glad you've enjoyed it Antman

I went back down from DDD to the area with the big room that had opened. I tried going in a counter clockwise cirle, but ended up in the area where there were two fountains in a hallway, so I went back to the big room again.

There I found a fountain, and next to it was a chest which contained the Ruby Key.

There was also a push-button gate with a pit behind it, but I had already found what I was looking for so I went back up to DDD.

I ran past a rockpile and into the other room. There was a demon there, and I started circle strafing it. I then noticed another demon down the hallway, so I stopped in place and fought the first demon while his buddy was hitting him from behind with fireballs. Once the first demon was dealt with, I lured the other one into the room and circle strafed it to death.

The rockpile had entered the room as well, so I waited until the way was clear, then ran into the other room again.

I waited patiently for the rockpile to come back (making another round of potions to kill some time). Once it had stepped on the pressure plate, I darted over the closed pit.

While standing there trying to figure out what to do next, I noticed something or someone was throwing fireballs by the gate to the south.

I started casting poison clouds through the gate, and after a while the fireballs stopped and I noticed the pit in front of me had closed. When I moved forwards, I noticed a pressure plate behind the gate, so I guess a demon had stood on it.

When I stood on that pressure plate, nothing happened, the pit remained closed. There were some stairs down next to that pressure plate.

Downstairs there was a lock with an "X" on it, and in the other end there was a gold lock next to a door.

Behind the gold locked door was a Plate of Ra and a gold coin, which seemed hardly worth it, so I reloaded.

I tried all the different keys in my inventory, but didn't find any that opened the other lock, so I went back up.

I found another lock similar to the one downstairs, a pressure plate, and an inscription that said "Value in exchange for valuables".

I tried putting a gor coin on the pressure plate, and a teleporter came and teleported it away, but nothing else seemed to have happened. I tried going downstairs to see if anything had changed, but nothing was different.

I tried putting more gold coins on the pressure plate. I also tried stepping into the teleporter right after putting the coin down, but that did nothing. After the 5th coin, the wall behind the pressure plate opened.

Behind the wall were the 5 coins I had put on the pressure plate, and also a cross key.

I tried the cross key on the lock downstairs first. I heard a click, but nothing seemed to happen and it didn't swallow the key. The lock didn't accept the key a second time.

When I came back up, the door next to the cross lock there had opened.

I went through the opened gate, but the gate with the black flame behind it was still locked.

When I used the cross key in the lock next to the open gate, the other gate opened. It turns out there was no black flame on the black flame generator behind that gate.

In the area that had opened, there was a button on the wall and also a gate with a button on it.

I heard a click when I pushed the button on the wall, but nothing seemed to have happened, so I opened the gate and went forward. There was a black flame there which I dealt with, and some holes that were spitting out fireballs.

Next to the fireball holes were a lever which closed a pit when I pulled it, so I quickly ran over the closed pit. I came to a door, and there was an inscription on the opposite wall that said "Dain". Next to the door by the closed pit there was a lock.

I'll continue from here later.

[RogerS]

The lock opened with the ruby key as I expected, and behind it were some stairs up.

Upstairs there was an alchove with the Crown of Nerra, some fine robes and some sandals. I suspected something might happen if I picked them all up, and sure enough, I heard a click and took a deep fall to "surrender your possessions". I picked up the key there and stepped through a teleporter which took me to the area below Supplies for the quick, so I reloaded rather than running the long way back.

I looked up the stats for Crown of Nerra, and saw that it gives +10 wisdom. I gave it to Syra who has the lowest base wisdom of 63. I left the other stuff behind.

There was another lightning door that automatically opened when I stepped in front of it, presumably because I had corbums in my inventory, but I went past it because I didn't want to go up there again without all 4 corbums.

Further along the corridor there were some stairs down, and at the end of the corridor there was a locked door which I kept hearing fireball explosions behind, and a button on the wall.

I decided to go down the stairs first. Downstairs was an empty niche on the right, and an area with some pits on the floor and over head (one which was opening and closing). There was a path through the pits which led to the central pillar, and it had a dragon steak in it. I gave it to Nabi who was yellow on food.

By the way, 240 mana seems to be the next magic number as far as mana regen is concerned, because at 243 mana, Nabi seems to have noticably faster mana regen than the rest of the party at 228, 235 and 236 mana.

I went back up and went left towards the door.

I pressed the button on the wall, and it opened the door. I quickly stepped to the side, but the fireballs weren't being fired at the door.

To the left there was an inscription that said "Eyes lie", and to the right was a concealed pit and a fake wall.

Inside the fake wall was a button on the wall. When I pressed it, the concealed pit closed.

There wasn't any obvious ways to proceed from there though, but when I tried placing a rock on the pit in front, it turned out to be a fake pit.

I walked on top of the fake pit. I suspected that the pit in front of the corbum might be fake too, so I quickly stepped over the blinking pit when it was closed, and luckily I was right.

I picked up the final corbum, then made my way back to the stairs up.

Upstairs there was a 3x3 room to the left with some pressure plates along the walls with an empty spot in the middle. To the right were a couple of doors locked with Ra locks, one of which had a blue mist behind it. Further along there was a closed iron door with no obvious way to open it.

I saved the game and decided to try using my Ra key opening the door with the blue mist behind it first.

I stepped into the teleporter, and was confronted by a group of 4 demons. I started circle strafing them. I spotted another pair of demons nearby, so I stopped and started casting fireshields. The party got hit by a couple of fireballs before I was done casting all of them, so there were some injuries. Syra went up to Um master ninja while I was fighting them.

After I had killed the first group, I circle strafed the pair that was left. Afterwards, I saved in a new slot just in case.

I was in a big open room, and there was a blue mist to the east of where I had initially been teleported to.

When I stepped into that teleporter, I was teleported to an area with lots of demons, and a couple of zytaxes and worms. I put on some shield spells and stood there and fought them all, which took a while. My fireshields also ran out at some point, so I had to refresh them. Some of my champions had to drink a healing potion at some point.

When they were all dead except a couple of straggling demons nearby, I stood there and trying to get my bearings and trying to decide where to go next. Then suddenly Lord Chaos appeared in front of me, so I started moving away. Nearby I found the inscription "Demon chamber", and I found a Master key on the floor. I went into a dead end corridor, turned around with my back to the wall, and waited for a worm that was following me.

After I had killed the worm, I had Syra and Wu Tse make a healing potion each because they were injured, then I saved in yet another new slot.

I cast shields and fireshields again, then headed towards the demon chamber.

I didn't find any obvious way to proceed from there, so I started running around. I found out that the wall in the dead end where I had fought the worm was a fake wall, so I went through it and ran around for a bit, finding areas I had been the first time I had been on this level.

After a while, I found my way back to the demon chamber area again. I fought some demons, then pressed a button on the wall inside a blue mist. Now there suddenly were a lot of demons, so I went back to a narrow area and started fighting them. At some point my fireshields ran out, and I took some fireball damage until I was able to refresh them.

I then heard a teleport sound, and when I turned around I saw Lord Chaos had teleported to me again. I ran around trying to avoid being cornered between him and some demons, and eventually fell down a concealed pit.

I found some stairs up, and made my way to the demon chamber area again. I found a button on the wall which seems to have rearranged some walls when I pressed it.

I fought some more demons, then I ran around the room trying to find the black lock which I eventually did, and unlocked it with the master key.

While I was standing there unlocking the door, I was hit with some fireballs, and my fireshields had run out again. I slowly limped my way into the room, and eventually found the Fulya pit. I threw the corbums into it one by one, and finally victory was mine





Final stats:

Nabi:
Um master fighter
Um master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 712
Stamina: 668
Mana: 243

Syra:
Um master fighter
Um master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 713
Stamina: 763
Mana: 228

Wu Tse:
Lo master fighter
Lo master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 620
Stamina: 420
Mana: 235

Elija:
Lo master fighter
Lo master ninja
Ee master priest
Um master wizard
Health: 660
Stamina: 510
Mana: 236

[Ameena]

Woohoo, gratz . I can't remember the route I took on that final level the first time around (back at the beginning of the '90s or whenever I played it), but I probably did much the same as you did. In a more recent playthrough and looking at a map, there's actually a kind of "back door" through a false wall that lets you skip the whole "full of demons and shit" room and go through a corridor instead. I think maybe it had a few worms in it or something. When playing it on RTC I emerged from the wall at the other end of that shortcut (which I seem to recall is just around the corner from the Ful Ya Pit) I saw Lord Chaos coming toward me so I quickly stepped back through in the hopes he wouldn't follow. He did, so I somewhat panickedly threw a random Ful bomb at him and...he died, because in RTC (or at least the version I was playing, I can't remember if it got fixed) it turns out he only has 1hp or something, even though I think he's supposed to be invulnerable .

[RogerS]

Thanks

I'm considering maybe doing a two character run with reincarnated Buzzzzz and Petal next.

I already have made a save game with them in the prison, and trained them up there. All the mummies and rock piles are dead, and they both have Craftsman fighter and ninja, Journeyman priest, and Artisan wizard. Buzzzzz's food bar is in the red and very close to starving, and Petal's food bar is in the yellow.

[Ameena]

Well, at least they'll be able to get easy food once you actually start the game with them .

[RogerS]

They're not starving anymore, because I've transferred them to the main dungeon

I've killed the worms. First time I tried throwing poison bolts at them but It wasn't that effective (maybe I didn't focus fire enough), so I had to start kicking them when I ran out of mana. At some point I stepped on the worm generator meaning there were suddenly 5 worms to contend with, so I reloaded.

The second time, I made sure to focus on one single worm with fireballs until it was dead. Having only two worms remaining in the room made the rest of the fight a bit easier.

Training in the prison helped a lot, because in my very first attempt I had tried importing them straight away with no levels, and that proved very difficult.

My plan is to pick up some useful items and weapons in Supplies for the quick, farm some worm rounds, go pick up the Executioner, go to the basement and kill the dragon to get the Onyx key (and some more armor), take the teleporter back to the junction and head to Ros to pick up the Boots of Speed, then climb down the pit there and take the teleporter back to the junction again and continue on Ku normally. When I get to DDD I would then try to get a second pair of Boots of Speed from the coin slot there (reloading if I run out of coins without getting them).

Maybe I should start a new thread if/when I start my new adventure with Buzzzzz and Petal instead of continuing on this thread?

[Ameena]

The downstairs dragon has the solid key, not the onyx - it's what gets you into "Part Two" of Ku (with "Dead End" and "Dragon's Den" and all that). I can't remember where you get the onyx, though.

As for threads...maybe just continue here, since the title is still applicable - it's a new adventure, but it's still yours and still in CSB .

[Antman]

Congrats on completing the game!

There is an Onyx key in Ku, just one floor up from the dragon, and there's also one in Ros itself. There may also be another way to open that particular Onyx door... And regardless, the Boots of Speed you seek may not be where you last found them...

Some cryptic clues for your second play through

[RogerS]

Thank you Antman.

I had assumed 07,14,34 was the place I had found it the last time, but it turns out it's an item launcher.

Looks like I'll have to take a trip up level 0 after getting the first corbum to fetch the second boots (although it might have had to go up there anyway to get Dragon Fang if I don't find Diamond Edge somewhere in Ku this time).

[RogerS]

I had a quick session where I went to Supplies for the Quick and picked up almost everything there (leaving the mace, staffs and bow behind), then went back and killed 4 more worms.

They gained one wizard level and two priest levels each (from making buffing potions).

Current stats:

Buzzzzz:
Craftsman fighter
Craftsman ninja
Artisan priest
Adept wizard
Health: 356
Stamina: 283
Mana: 182

Petal:
Craftsman fighter
Craftsman ninja
Artisan priest
Adept wizard
Health: 352
Stamina: 410
Mana: 183

I'm impressed by 182 and 183 mana at only Artisan level priest and Adept level wizard. Looks like they might eventually make up for (and maybe even surpass) the reduced magic power from only having two characters by ending up with a higher mana per character (and increased mana regen because of that)

[Ameena]

I play with two characters these days anyway and I've comlpeted DM and CSB with them with no great issue (and without really bothering to stop and actively train stuff). With only one or two characters you can also dodge incoming projectiles just by turning sideways, although I usually forget/don't react in time .
If you come back to Supplies for the Quick later you might find more stuff has appeared in the alcoves so it's worth at least a couple of visits. Did you get the vorpal blade there in your original playthrough? I'm pretty sure there is one, although I may be misremembering...

Spoiler

Somewhere in a corner in the Supplies area I believe there's a false wall with a couple of squares of floor and an alcove containing said vorpal blade. With the usual "step on floor, pit opens after a brief pause" thing as in the rest of the area.

[Antman]

Yes that item launcher is actually part of a randomizer for those items. Unfortunately one of them ends up inaccessible to due to (what is in my opinion) a bug in the original game.

I like playing with one or two characters too, and Petal and Buzzzzz are the gotos for me in CSB.

With only one or two characters you can also dodge incoming projectiles just by turning sideways

You can actually dodge projectiles with three characters too if your timing is good (in CSBWin anyway).

[RogerS]

Did you get the vorpal blade there in your original playthrough? I'm pretty sure there is one, although I may be misremembering...

Yes I did.

I like playing with one or two characters too, and Petal and Buzzzzz are the gotos for me in CSB.

That makes me even more confident that I made the right choice of characters