Dungeon Master Forum

That scroll is SO not a red herring. In the beginning it is life-saving advice as the area it applies to is a killer otherwise.

Anyways, for your balrog, I see two possibilities. One is that it might be 'stuck' on top of some orcs. There are monster teleporters in the main room and creatures can form stacks there. The other option is that he might have wandered into the tomb of Balin. Getting there and driving him out without dying from repeated balrog hits might be a challenge. I know I hated it when it happened to me. Especially since the infinite ork problem is not fixed in the version I play.

And Inanity, yes. As far I can tell, solving "Strong Quick and Rich" is the only way out of this area. And yes, you ended up there by falling down a pit, you clumsy, clumsy you!

Parallax wrote: And Inanity, yes. As far I can tell, solving "Strong Quick and Rich" is the only way out of this area. And yes, you ended up there by falling down a pit, you clumsy, clumsy you!

Well, as far as I can tell I've solved it but no walls disappeared or anything. There's not even a closed door. Not sure what the "rich" part of that riddle means though... I tried putting a bunch of coins in the alcove where u find a vorpal blade but nope...

Neh, the balrog is definetely not there... and cleaning the room is very difficult with the infinite ork bug...

The only time I managed to do it, I started with the Tomb of Balin, with lo fireballs, and then destroyed every orks once they only appeared in one place... but of course as soon as mana runs out, the rooms gets quickly crowded afterward...

So I finish my current Conflux game with 89 points, with only the tower of mampang, underwater level and emerald forest yet to explore and clean, (as far as I know).

The only quests I didn't do are : the 15 points quests, the whip of the balrogs, win circus Prize 99, find the long lost wand, and recover the crown of kings [because I can't solve the tower of loops]

I plan to start over with only one character. I don't think I'll use the maleficient guild, either... Which character should I take ?

Leif

Well, as far as I can tell I've solved it but no walls disappeared or anything. There's not even a closed door. Not sure what the "rich" part of that riddle means though... I tried putting a bunch of coins in the alcove where u find a vorpal blade but nope...

Heeellllpp!!! I'm trapped!!

The hint oracle says something about needing that crossbow, but shooting arrows doesn't seem to do anything

I suggest taking Iaido instead of Leif. I took Leif alone my first time out and he wasn't good for much of anything. Later, I started over with Iaido and he has saved me several keys.

Inanity, you're not in a dead end, although if you feel like a prisonner, I recommend trying the prison equipment at your disposal.

The first time, I reincarnated all 4 guides, and I think that Leif and Gando were initially the most useful, but on the other hand, Zed should be the best if I manage to race to a flask, and Iaido sure opens a lots of doors, and its weapon is the best to start with (I think he has a katana, hasn't he ? )

No, Iaido doesn't start with a Katana... by far the best weapon is Leif's mace, which is one of the things that makes him the easiest choice for a single starting character. He's also the hardest to kill.

In my most recent game I wanted three guild leaders, and I ended up picking Zed as my guide, for the horn of fear. In retrospect I should have chosen Leif or Iaido. It's true Iaido can open some doors, but I'm not sure how useful that really is, since the keys are all available.

Having said that, I haven't really had any problems with Zed, except he's always stopping to groom his moustache. I think there's little question that Gando is the worst choice - he's too easy to kill, and doesn't really help much with anything except to tell you about some pits.

Well well well...
Darkness level : I tried the 'useless spell' from DM (which is basically a doublon of another spell, isn't it ?) but that doesn't help since it doesn't last very long... no other way to have permanent light ???

Xanathar : Joramund, the place you are talking about to reach xanathar is unreachable : there is a blue teleporter that block the way to the room with the teleporters and water elemental ! How did you get rid of it ?

Xanathar again : well, I finally dilapidated my four key of b (just to meet the bad guy) and WHAT THE HELL ! Is there a trick to kill teh guy without fighting ? Fighting it with brute force is far too difficult ! Any strategies are welcomed...

The treasury : I liberated the thief but he doesn't open the door of the treasury... what is the trick (I don't have Iaido in my party).

thanks !

snichele wrote:Well well well...
Darkness level : I tried the 'useless spell' from DM (which is basically a doublon of another spell, isn't it ?) but that doesn't help since it doesn't last very long... no other way to have permanent light ???

Nope...

snichele wrote: Xanathar : Joramund, the place you are talking about to reach xanathar is unreachable : there is a blue teleporter that block the way to the room with the teleporters and water elemental ! How did you get rid of it ?

I'm pretty sure Joramund is wrong about the b-keys... I think that teleporter doesn't open until after you open the b-door.

Xanathar again : well, I finally dilapidated my four key of b (just to meet the bad guy) and WHAT THE HELL ! Is there a trick to kill teh guy without fighting ? Fighting it with brute force is far too difficult ! Any strategies are welcomed...

I killed him without too much trouble, using a pair of funereal weapons. But then again, my party has EE, ON and PAL -master fighters, wizards, priests...
edit: Oh yeah, and they are buffed up on ZO-juice...

The treasury : I liberated the thief but he doesn't open the door of the treasury... what is the trick (I don't have Iaido in my party).

You need Iaido, far as I know. But I couldn't get it to work even with Iaido. I think all to be gained is a SAR key?

The treaury has some treasures, and the key isn't to do with iaido

The only thing, to my knowledge, iaido opens that can't otherwise be opened is the door to the ring on the supplies level

Darkness level : I made a full map of it, if you want. It gave me headache, but the level is not that big, so...

Xanathar : for some reason, I managed to reverse the teleporter your talking about (it teleports me beyond it instead of before it). So I saved a few keys.

Xanathar : I dispatched him with brute force and lots of potion, and beside freezing him (I'm not even sure it works), I don't see another way. Having Mon shields is a good idea.

The treasury is opened with a Sar key. I don't know if there is another way.

Quest discussion : I still can't solve Tower of Loops "in the rules" (not Par's way) and find the Underwater level to be one of the most difficult areas in the game (its probably the only place I still fear to wander in with my master party...)

Starting Party Discussion :
As for Gando, well he is easy to kill, but he is a decent caster, he can open three doors of the wizard guild very fast... true his dialogs are largely useless, especially for a second game.
The Horn is very powerful, but Leif is the best : mace+power towers...
Iaido starts with the lockpicks... and I could also go for Zed + Nabi...
I have started with Maleficient guild, but even once you get 25 hp, a single blow kills them. Really, they suck too much. I don't see how it is possible to reach the temple with such a party...

snichele wrote:
Well well well...
Darkness level : I tried the 'useless spell' from DM (which is basically a doublon of another spell, isn't it ?) but that doesn't help since it doesn't last very long... no other way to have permanent light ???

Nope...

There is. You probably had something in your inventory in DM or CSB that seemed rather useless, it will come in handy here. (Illuminet)

The treasury is opened with a Sar key. I don't know if there is another way.

There is a puzzle on the spider level that will get you one of these, I'm guessing you haven't found it yet.

I still can't solve Tower of Loops "in the rules"

Here is the solution:
Go right to the top and pull the lever then leg it downstairs until you reach a sign saying "Loop Back" then start running back and if you're fast enough, you'll have noticed a false wall has opened, step onto this square and off it at the other side (thus avoiding the teleporter that keeps you in the loops) to find a Square Key. Use this on the square lock at the bottom of the tower to open the Tower of Doors.

The useless stuff in DM, is still useless in the Darkness level. Well, at least when I tried.

I solved most of Mampang, but the darn Archmaster just slips away everytime I close in...

It worked fine for me. Well it only provided limited light but it was enough to see what I was doing.

beowuuf wrote:The treaury has some treasures, and the key isn't to do with iaido

There is supposedly a way to get the master thief to open the treasury _without_ a key, but only if you have Iaido in your party.

The only thing, to my knowledge, iaido opens that can't otherwise be opened is the door to the ring on the supplies level

There are several others, but I'm not sure how many. There's another door in the cellar that comes immediately to mind.

Oops no wait, I misinterpreted what you said. But can even that door not be opened using a winged key? I have an extra one.

Edit: I tried it, and "the key fits but the mechanism seems blocked".

Zyx, stop that time-travelling!!

By the way, has anyone beaten Parallax's high score yet? (112 points)

Joramund wrote:I have started with Maleficient guild, but even once you get 25 hp, a single blow kills them. Really, they suck too much. I don't see how it is possible to reach the temple with such a party...

I personally never go to the temple with them to start with, prefering to bypass down further - the sewers is dangerous yet if you can clear a path and get a key to the dwarf mines you can get some clear space

Also, of course, you can try to do parts of the upper moister level in perfect light

Unfortunately, I haven't played the map guild recently, alot of back doors have closed for fast progression

There is. You probably had something in your inventory in DM or CSB that seemed rather useless, it will come in handy here.

Oh yeah I forgot about those. I have at least 4 of them in my stationary stash. Really though, I didn't find the darkness level all that bad once you realize it's not very big, and I don't think I have to go back there again now anyway, unless I feel like solving the garden puzzle, which I doubt I will.

I have started with Maleficient guild, [...] I don't see how it is possible to reach the temple with such a party...

It's possible, just not my idea of fun.

I killed the archmaster, so my score is 102 (minus 10 for the council key-spending...)
I don't think I can have much more, unless I get the fiery cerberus, the dragon armour plate, the balrog's whip... Par remains unbeaten.

I can't do anything in the underwater level. It's just too difficult to stay alive.

There is a riddle, but I don't understand it so... and I can't find the fearsome beast everyone is talking about. The blue munchers are just enough !

Joramund wrote:I killed the archmaster, so my score is 102 (minus 10 for the council key-spending...)
I don't think I can have much more, unless I get the fiery cerberus, the dragon armour plate, the balrog's whip...

Considering the things you haven't done, that's pretty impressive. I've done all that stuff except the fiery cerberus, and I'm only at 110. I know where some of those points are but I can't account for all of them..

edit: Oh, wait does your scroll say 102 or 92?

Par remains unbeaten.

Not for long, unless he improves his score.

It remains that I would need 10 points out of nowhere in order to beat the OFFICIAL score of Par. But since he probably has solved every quest except a few, I think he must be well over 120
And honestly, I don't know where my current 92 points are from... I'll go open the council door to get the 102 points. 100 points is such a psychological barrier

Joramund wrote:It remains that I would need 10 points out of nowhere in order to beat the OFFICIAL score of Par. But since he probably has solved every quest except a few, I think he must be well over 120

Well, I know he was doing Mophus' quest, but I'm not sure whether he was using 3 guild leaders or not. I think 115 or anyway no higher than 120 is about the highest you can get without a guild leader quest.

Hmm, it's been streamlined then or some items reduced - you used to be able to get 140 points before some of the new quests back in the days of Conflux II

I think I could go as high as 125 points or more with the remaining quests...
(balrog's whip,coral poleyn,dragonplate,meet vecna (I didn't do that !), lost wand (if the pit can be re-opened), fiery cerberus, circus prize 99, and finding any new flask/funereal weapon/ air scroll )

Edit : I got the Coral poleyn, so my score is 107, if I could just get my hand on the lost wand or balrog's whip, I'd go visit Vecna and so have at least 113 points... beating Par's score

You're right Beo, the scores were higher in Conflux 2 :

What's going on here? One day out of town and all of the sudden I'm a target? A marked man? Well, that's fine, keep chasing, I guess I'll just have to collect all the points I know how to and send a savegame for 160 points or so to Zyx then. That should keep you youngsters busy for a while.

Oh, you so just killed all my hopes...

EDIT : But if I make an awesome tale of my adventures, I can get 100 points and beat you

You now get 100 points for the story? Wow!

Eh, I must get back to playign conflux...I'm stuck somewhere annoying I seem to recall so ghadn't carried on for a while THink it was the beseiged town, couldn't figure it out..

Besieged town is the hell of a fight !

It's easy if you split 'em up... don't try taking 'em all on at once...