LSD Docs/LSD Docs.iso/FILEZ/lsd34.dms/lsd34.adf/DQOK.sol.pp/DQOK.sol

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                            DARK QUEEN OF KRYNN

                           Tips and Mini-Walkthru

          Fixed by Baser Evil - The Courts of Chaos - 501-336-9661

  Regards to the Best Rygar, Scooter, 2-Tuff, Munchie, Flex, Razor Blade



                   Part I: Getting Started

Dark Queen of Krynn (or DQK for short) is somewhat atypical for a gold box
game. In particular, where the usual AD&D product pretty much leads you by
the nose so you have no trouble staying on track, DQK goes in the other
direction, not giving you much help at all in deciding what to do or where
to go next. Sometimes, even when you think you know where to visit, nothing
seems to be happening there (or at least, nothing of much importance).

Also, a number of events are triggered by doing certain things, some of them
not very obvious. This is especially the case in the Tower of Flame, where
getting from one level to the next may be a frustrating experience.

In addition, there are several set-ups in the game that you need to know
about so you can survive the experiences. A lot of gratuitous damage gets
tossed at your party, and knowing when it's coming can help your people stay
alive.

The first thing you need to know about is the nasty bug in regard to
multi-class characters. Usually, when a character has enough points to
go up a level, his or her name shows pink on the screen. However, the bug
prevents this from happening with multi-class types. So the character is
accumulating points, but never seems trainable.

In fact, that character CAN be trained (if race limits have not been
reached), even though the name has not changed color. You will have to keep
track of the experience points for multi-classes, and train them when they
have enough points for the next level. This was more of a problem for
dual-class types, since my triple-class characters usually got the color
change.

If you are creating a party from scratch (instead of bringing one over from
Death Knights, which is better than making a new one), you don't want
Silvanesti Elves unless you plan on bringing them in as single-class mages,
clerics, or rangers, or as multi-class in those professions. Those are the
only ones they can max out (unlimited advancement) in; as plain fighters,
they will get only up to level 10, which is not really very good for this
game. You want at least level 14 fighters, to get that double hit per round.
For the usual F/Mu combination, Qualinesti elves are the better choice.

My own party consisted of one human knight, 3 F/Mu's (two red mages, one
white mage), and two triple class F/Cleric/Mu's (both white mages). So
everyone could fight, and everyone could also cast spells. The knight (of
the rose) was especially important, since having him in the party let me
control the various NPC's who joined us for varying periods of time.

Of course, the triple-class guys went up slower than anyone else, but they
were still worth having. You are going to need a lot of magic, and also a
lot of healing, to get through this game....and there will be times when you
can't sit encamped and fix everyone up; you'll need individual healing
spells. The more you have, the better.

I went through DQK at the novice level, mainly because I found out about the
training bug too late to do anything (we were in the Tower of Fire by then),
so for most of the play, I was under the impression my mages were never
going to go up in level. With mages of only 13th-15th level, I figured we
needed some sort of advantage. Even with that, many of the combats,
especially with enchanted Draconians, were hard.

While you now know about the bug, and won't be stuck like I was, you may
still want to lower the difficulty level, especially in certain areas like
the Tower of Fire, where there are several tough encounters with Draconians
and others. In addition, you will find that low armor class (-10 or lower)
is not as good protection against hits as you might expect. Your party will
be absorbing a lot of damage throughout the game, one way or another.

Money isn't of much use in DQK. After awhile, there isn't any reason to pick
up the steel, gems, and jewels that are offered after a combat. The only
things you need money for are (a) getting items identified and (b) buying
passes at Hawkbluff. The inns are free, training is free, and equipment
offered for sale is mainly mundane stuff you don't want to bother with. So
don't weigh yourself down with a lot of useless treasure.

If you are bringing a team over from Death Knights, you may be a little
short of magic arrows. There was only one place in DQK I could find to buy
arrows, and they were a bit expensive (15,000 for ten +2 arrows)....and that
was well along, when we were in the Gnome tower on the Burning Sea. If you
need arrows(or good bows, or both), the simplest thing to do is play the old
game of "Muggee".

Create several fighters (stats, name, etc are irrelevant). They all come
with +2 composite bows and 40 +2 arrows. Bring them into the group, trade
off what you want, and then dump them. This is about the only way you'll
get magic arrows in the game (there is a place where you can get some +4's,
but not many, and only once).

As usual, the best stuff comes after combat. However, you'll notice that
many of your opponents only carry mundane items, or no items, just some
gems, jewels, and/or steel. Even the Dark Wizards have junk for treasure;
you can't even pick up bracers from them (which makes me wonder how they
got that armor class of -1). Accumulating good equipment will be a slow
task.


                 Troublesome Critters

DQK features some nasty monsters, many of which can do considerable harm to
your party. These include Dark Wizards, and bombardier Draconians.

Dark Wizards are high-level (I'd hate to guess how high) mages, and they
come into combat with all their defensive spells up and ready before the
fighting even starts. The spells they have in effect are Fire Shield (cold),
Mirror Image, and Globe of Invulnerability. For some time, these guys are
going to be a pain to kill.

Mirror Image makes it very hard to target them with arrows. The Globe will
protect them from the usual damage spells such as Ice Storm, Fireball, and
Lightning Bolt. Fire Shield will generally keep them safe from the Delayed
Blast Fireballs (or DBF), and bestow double damage on anyone who hits them
with a hand weapon.

One way of handling them in the early going is Cone of Cold. If you can get
someone close to a Dark Wizard, and have time to get off the spell, this
will usually kill them, since the Cone is an area spell and too high in
level to be stopped by the Globe.

This is tricky, though, since the Wizards tend to lurk in the back ranks,
where they are hard to reach. Also, THEY throw DBF's, and as we all know,
the DBF is an instant spell (like magic missile). One of those, and your
party could be in bad shape (not to mention, unable to cast any spells of
their own that round).

Another way to get to them is an arrow barrage. Enough arrows will disperse
the various mirror images (or you may even get lucky on a shot and hit him
in spite of the duplicates). Once the images are gone, he is a sitting duck
for arrows.

The last, and best, way won't be available for awhile. When you get a white
mage high enough, have him (or her) learn Power Word Kill (for some reason,
this choice only shows for white mages). Power Word Kill is an instantaneous
spell, and it works first time, every time. One of these, and you won't have
any more trouble with Mr. Wizard. You will have to get fairly close to use
it, since the range is only 1 square for every four experience levels of
your mage (ie, a 15th level mage can only toss it about 3 squares away).

The other problem comes from the Enchanted Draconians, which have been put
in the game to make your life much more difficult. Not only do Auraks blow
up when they die, so do Sivaks, Kapaks, and Bozaks. Of these, the Bozaks
(which I always thought of as Bozos) are the worst. I cringed whenever
these guys showed up in combat.

First, Bozos have a Fire Shield up, so you don't want to hit them with hand
weapons. Second, they can cast spells. Third, and worst of all, the damage
they do when they explode can reach 20 or more hit points, and there is no
protection against it. You just have to sit there and take the pain, hoping
the guys won't go down. Bozos can be a serious threat when several are in
the enemy party at one time.

Sometimes, if you have a high-level mage, a DBF will get through the Fire
Shield and possibly knock them out. However, between the shield and their
own natural magic resistance, this doesn't happen too often. All you can
really try to do is put them down with arrows before they get close enough
to damage the party.

Sivaks blow up like a Meteor Swarm, but the damage they do is generally not
more than 5-10 points per shot (at least, that's what it was when people had
rings of Fire Resistance or were under a Resist Fire spell). They can,
however, get the same people more than once if the area is crowded. Still,
since they have no other special powers and can't cast spells, they are not
as dangerous, overall, as the Bozos.

Kapaks splatter into acid puddles when they die. The direction of the
splatters is random, and the acid itself generally does somewhere between
1-5 points of damage. The Kapaks are therefore the least dangerous of the
"bombardier Draconians".

Auraks, enchanted or otherwise, are always dangerous. Properly handled,
though, they can be less of a problem than the other critters. Auraks need
to be put down twice. In their natural state, they can cast spells (and
enchanted Auraks are especially fond of DBF), so you want to bring them down
into their berserk state as soon as you can.

In this form, they can attack, but do not cast spells. When they go down a
second time, they enter the energy form. In this state, they are stationary
menaces, incapable of movement or attacking, except they have a magical zap
that can hit an adjacent character. The zap of the enchanted Aurak is quite
damaging, so you don't want anyone standing next to it for very long. You
especially don't want anyone standing next to the enchanted variety when it
blows up, because that's 16d8 damage. My rose knight got caught in such a
blast once, and he took 80 hp's damage. Fortunately, he had most of his hp's
at the time, so he was still living after that.

The regular Auraks have a natural invisibility that prevents them from being
targeted by spells or arrows until after they have made their attack for the
round. On the other hand, these Auraks are more susceptible to DBF, so if
you can get one or two off near them, you may not even have to worry much
about them for the rest of the combat. Also, any mages with Detect
Invisibility active will be able to target the Auraks for spells or
missiles.

Enchanted Auraks do not have this invisible ability (at least, we were
always able to target them). However, they are much more likely to resist
any spells cast against them (you do get through from time to time). Arrows
and melee weapons are generally the best way to deal with enchanted Auraks.


                      Part II: Taladas

                     Caergoth and The Caves

When the game begins, you are in Palanthas. The first thing to do is go to
the inn and memorize spells (and possibly visit the training hall, if you
brought your team over from Death Knights). The shop has nothing of interest
(all mundane items), and you aren't likely to need the services of the
temple.

After your meeting with the general, you hustle along automatically to
Caergoth, which is in pretty sad shape, having just been blasted to rubble
by dragons. You'll have one encounter with a few dragons here. Then you can
go to the boat at the end of the dock.

This vessel is run by Captain Daenor (a paladin, of all things!). Ship out
with him, and before long you're on the trail of a bunch of nasty
Draconians. You'll have to track them through the caves, with several tough
encounters along the way.

Fixing on the upper level of the cave is hard to accomplish, as you're
likely to be interrupted by Draconian patrols. I did find it possible to
rest and renew spells by encamping just inside the cave entrance. When you
get to the lower level (where the Umber Hulks and other delights abound),
fixing is usually possible, although getting spells back is chancy. That's
another reason to make sure you have a full slate of spells before you start
on this little jaunt.

There's nothing tricky about the caves; it's a straightforward matter of
mapping and combat. At the end, Crysia will get away, but you'll see her
again much later.

                        Naulidis

There's nothing like a shipwreck to make life interesting, and a storm at
sea sinks the Silver Shark. Fortunately, your party is saved by Sea Elves,
who put a spell on everyone to allow them to breathe underwater.
Unfortunately, it doesn't help with movement. Underwater, your team will not
have a very good movement rate, except for whoever equips the Ring Of Free
Action (if you have a dragonlance in the party, give the ring to whoever
has the lance).

The Elves are currently having some problems with Sea Dragons, who are
rampaging through the city. While this is going on, you'll be asked to do
little errands and good deeds by the populace (once you find your way to one
of the two safe halls).

In the safe halls, you can rest up and memorize spells. During this part of
the game, you may want to dump your regular fireball spells, and load up on
lightning bolts instead. Underwater, fireballs aren't much use (heh). The
lightning bolts, however, will work, although not in the usual fashion.
Instead of zipping off in a straight line, they explode, covering an area
similar to that of an ice storm, but doing regular electrical damage.

After awhile, you find out that the dragons are rampaging because the evil
Sauhaugin stole their eggs. So of course you have to go and get them (isn't
that what heroes are for?). Be careful in the tunnel linking Naulidus with
Celanost, as you'll have a couple of encounters there with sea critters.

Eventually, you'll make it to Celanost and the air shaft. Explore the rooms
above carefully. When you come to one that appears to have treasure in it,
camp out and put Resist Fire (and Fire Shield, for those who have it) on the
party. As you move around this room, you'll have an encounter, and a Dark
Wizard will be among the enemies.

Beyond this room, you'll find the place where the eggs are stored. Whoever
dives down and brings up one or more eggs gets experience, so send down
whoever needs the points most. That takes care of Celanost, and you can head
back to Naulidus when you have all the eggs.

Near the entry to Naulidus is one encounter with Sauhaugin, followed by a
meeting with a horde of sea dragons. Just hand the eggs over to the dragons,
and they will depart in peace.

Of course, you aren't quite done yet. After you are escorted by the Elves to
the prince's private chambers, you may want to camp and save the game.
Fixing and/or resting won't be possible, because Prince Talhook and his
merry band have set up an ambush in this room. "Looking" will trigger the
encounter, which is the conclusion of the Naulidus portion of the game. When
the fighting is over, you'll get a dragonlance (a handy weapon to have).

                       Hizden and the Lighthouse

Hizden is also straightforward. Talk to Ezra, rest up at the inn, save the
town from marauding Sauhaugin, train if you need to, etc. Then make your way
to the lighthouse.

This is certainly one of the meaner parts of the game. There are few things
as frustrating as fighting your way up eleven levels, past enormous spiders,
Beholders, gorgons, iron golems, and other dangerous creatures, only to find
that nothing - nothing at all - will open the door at the top. The only
reason you might want to go as far as the tenth level is to find the dying
Elf woman, who has bracers AC 2 and a couple of other items.

The real way to the top is to walk around until you find a poorly-concealed
pit in the the floor and drop through it. This lands you on a mound of
garbage (doing damage, too, of course). Then you fight a veritable army of
Greater Otyughs, purple worms, and such like. There are a LOT of these
critters, but fortunately your DBF's will work wonders here, and you should
be able to clean out the monsters in short order.

Once they've been dispatched, climb up the garbage pile to a small, enclosed
level. Turn on Search and do a little mapping. You will find a false wall
with a teleporter behind it. This teleporter will send you back to the main
level, not too far from the door out. Mark that on your map, turn off
search, and then start walking into walls. You do that because there is a
*second* teleporter in this area, and the false wall that covers it will NOT
show up when you have search active; you can only find it by walking through
the wall. This second teleporter will send you to the top where you can talk
to Fastillion, and get the two crypt keys. That's all you need to do here,
and then you can use the teleporters to get out again.

                          Kristophan

This lovely place is under the domination of minotaurs. The minotaurs are
big and tough, and ready to pound you anytime you get out of line. I never
found a way into the palaces of either the king or queen, and suspect that
they're there just for show. However, if you want to start a fight to earn
some experience points, you can try entering the queen's palace. Don't do
this too often, though, or your party will be marked as troublemakers, and
minotaur patrols in the town will start attacking your group from time to
time.

In the eastern (minotaur) half of the city, you will see an old minotaur
abusing his human slave. If you get involved, your party will end up having
to fight in the arena (that's the only way to get in there, by the way)
against some very tough minotaur opposition. This encounter does not advance
the plot, so you can skip it unless you want their armor (all the minotaur
champs have +2 helms and other gear).

On the outskirts of the city is the home of Eshalla, who looks like a hag
but isn't. Be nice to her and she'll tell you her sad story. If one of your
party volunteers to kiss her (several times), she'll be restored to her
rightful self. She also falls passionately in love with whoever kissed her.
This is not as bad as it sounds, since she bestows (over several encounters)
some Neat Things on the party, including a cloak of displacement and a helm
+3.

The really important thing about Kristophan is the tombs below the city.
These can be reached only by having the thief from the pub join your party.
His joining will trigger the Dragonstrike, where you all make a mad dash
north to reach the safety of the abandoned temple (only the thief can open
the way in to the temple).

What you are looking for down here are the five pieces of the Oracle. Each
piece provides a cryptic clue or hint. You get one piece from the spectral
minion guarding his wife's cell, another from a ghost, a third when you
visit the crazy lich's "sideshow" (the piece is in Tightrope Walkers; "look"
after you have the spider combat), a fourth in the tomb of Kristophus
("look" around for it), and the fifth after a fight with a very nasty bunch
of vampires in the caves beyond the tomb.

In the vampire room are two teleporters. One will send you back to the tombs
proper. The other, with a warning scrawled in blood in front of it, will
send you to a maze of pillars and teleporters. Many of these pillars are
hollow, and have treasure chests inside. Most of the treasure is gems and
such, but one chest has Eyes Of Petrifaction (work like a Flesh to Stone
spell), and another has the real prize: a belt of cloud giant strength.

The fake walls of the pillars do not show up under Search; you just have to
try all sides of each pillar (a couple are solid and have no way in). There
will, of course, be encounters with various critters as you make your way
around this area. Fortunately, they are all "regular" monsters; no
Draconians are among them. To get out of this place, you will have to find
the pillar with the teleporter inside it.

                         The Hulder

The Hulder are unfriendly Elves, worse in some ways than those of Armach. At
least the Armach Elves warn you away from their land. The Hulder have the
pleasant habit of letting people in and then smirking as the unfortunates
slowly starve to death. Sorry to say, you are going to have to enter Hulder
territory. By the way, having Elves of your own in the party is no advantage
here; they're treated as outsiders just like anyone else.

You can find it by going east from Trilloman to the mountains, where you
enter a cleft in the rocks. In a short time, your people will begin taking
damage from lack of food (and probably some sort of spell effect, since the
damage is almost continuous; really friendly, those Hulder).

Camping and fixing will heal up the party temporarily. At each camping, you
will be approached by the Elf woman Elea. She teaches the party some
important Hulder words. When you have learned all of them thoroughly (ie,
when you are told the journal entry that has the words and their meanings),
head off to location 7,11. Looking at the journal entry ahead of time won't
help; you have to go through the entire routine of hearing the words,
repeating them back, getting the meanings of them, etc., before the Elves
appear to talk to you.

You will also find Tasselhoff Burrfoot as you wander through the forest. He
joins you temporarily (only for your stay in Hulder land). Tass is no better
off than you are (he's also starving and unable to find a way out), however
you need him in your party, so you might as well invite him in.

When you meet the king and queen of the Hulder, you'll notice that the king
isn't a bad sort, but the queen doesn't like you at all. At her instigation,
the party is sent to count the leaves on the Mother of Trees. Fun stuff.

The Mother of Trees is due east of 7,11. This is fortunate, since you will
have to make four trips in all to the tree to count the leaves. Tass, having
more brains than anyone else in the group, will refuse to help count. On
each visit, he will make a suggestion, such as burning the tree or cutting
it down. Since your party pledged not to harm any trees, following these
suggestions is not recommended.

However, on the fourth visit, Tass will suggest stripping the leaves off the
tree. Since it's almost autumn and the leaves are falling off anyway, this
is what you should do. One leaf will remain, and that's all you need to tell
the king. The rigmarole is finally over, and you'll receive some gifts (+4
arrows, a +4 bow, some nice Elfin chain mail) as well as a ring of deception
and a dragon scale. This scale will be important later when you visit
Blackwater Glade. The ring will help you to uncover Auraks masquerading as
someone else.

That takes care of the Hulder, and you won't have to visit them again.

                          Bai'or

Bai'or, way down in the SE corner of the map, is a city beset by dragons and
Sharkmen. Talking to the people there will give you some idea of what is
going on, although no one ever tells you exactly why the Sharkmen want all
those boats built.

In any case, what you want to do is find the librarian in the secret room of
the library. Tell her you can take care of the dragons. This will start a
riot in the town square (so be prepared for combat when you leave). After
you polish off the Sharkmen, heal and rest up, because a small army of
dragons will appear when you try to leave town.

When they've been dispatched, another dragon will show up. This one you
should talk to; he'll tell you there are good dragons to be found in
Blackwater Glade. However, don't go running off there just yet, because
right now you won't be able to find them.

                       New Aurim

New Aurim is a vicious town, with bodies all over the place: hanging from
the walls, lying in the streets, dangling from the roofs. Almost makes you
wish you were back with the Hulder. At least the forest was a clean place.

You'll find that most people here stay behind locked doors and are reluctant
to talk to you. This is because temple press gangs roam through the city,
grabbing people to be made into undead. You'll come across one or more of
these press gangs as you ramble around New Aurim. Defeating them will get
you some Thenol army uniforms, which come in handy (you only have to fight
one gang to get the uniforms; further combats are optional on your part).

In one building you will find a man who says he isn't accepting petitions
today. Your ring of deception will glow, because he's actually an enchanted
Aurak in disguise. You can fight him (and his friends) if you like, but you
won't get anything more than experience from the encounter: there is nothing
of importance to be found in the room.

In the western section is the Quiet Kender tavern, where you can talk to the
cleric of Myslaxa. He sends you to free everyone in the city jail. Since
you're wearing the uniforms (you DID put them on, I hope!), you can get in
easily by pretending you have prisoners. Of course, after that, you'll have
to fight the bad guys.

Freeing the prisoners requires a thief. Knock spells did not work on the
cell doors, nor did bashing (even bashing by someone wearing the giant
belt). I had to create a thief character specifically to pick the locks
(which he was able to do with no trouble at all).

When you return to the Kender, the cleric will give you a token, so that the
people behind the locked doors will talk to you. One of them will hand you a
clay pass to get into the palace. Another, across from, and a little south
of, the jail, will train mages in the party. I found it necessary to use
his services when some of my mages were ready to go up a level, but the
regular training hall wouldn't do the job.

Now that you have the uniforms and the clay pass, you can get into the
palace by the back door. In one room on this level, you'll be asked if you
want to take on a special assignment. Agree to it and accept the Palace
Guard uniforms. The odd thing here is that you're told to report to the
Draconians upstairs. However, the only Draconians up there are guarding
the stairs to the king, and they want nothing to do with you.

Be careful up there on the second floor. One of the side doors outside the
palace leads to the lair of a lich and his undead friends. In the NE is a
room with some mundane treasure in it; this is the lair of some undead
dragons who will attack if you enter their area. In the same area, but to
the east, is a second door; approaching it will set off an ambush by
undead.

Where you're really supposed to go is downstairs, via the guardpost in the
center of the entry level. Showing your clay pass will get you past the
guards. Down below, you are escorted by a small army of Draconians to a big
hall, where you are asked (ordered would be a better term) to escort some
Draconian recruits to Hawkbluff.

This, friends, is a setup. After you and your retinue get back upstairs and
past the guardpost, you are attacked by Thenolian soldiers, who start
beating on the Draconians. Actually, these are not soldiers but rebels. The
setup is that no matter what you do, all the recruits are going to be
killed. It doesn't matter if you fight the rebels, run, or wait, the result
will be the same. How nice.

Sometime after this, you will meet Grunschka, a female Dwarven fighter.
She's good to have in the party (not the treacherous type), except that
her armor class is pretty awful. Do what you can to get her better stuff
as the game progresses (she will stay with you right up through the end
game, so it's worth the effort). You should also get her a bow and arrows.
While she comes with a crossbow, that weapon only gets off one shot per
round, where the bows get off two per round. Since there are occasions
where arrows may be lifesavers (and I don't mean candy), everyone who can
use one should have a bow.

Now that you've lost your recruits and met Grunschka, you will be able to
get up to the king's level. When you go to the Draconian guard post on the
second floor, the urchin seller will be there. One of his critters slips
through the gates, and the Draconians open it for the seller to go after it.
This gives your party the chance to also slip through and nip upstairs to
visit the queen (the king isn't worth seeing).

The queen turns out to be working with the rebels. She gives you a signet
ring and tells you to show it to the jeweler in Hawkbluff. Then she tells
you about the secret passage behind the fire place that will take you down
below the palace. Use those stairs to get down to the area where you
received your recruit assignment. You can skip the crypts on the lowest
level, as there isn't really anything worth taking down there.

In the temple, you will have several fights with Draconians, but some of
them will escape with the dragon eggs. Further explorations down here will
lead you to one room with a lone cleric, and another with Trandamere
himself. Unfortunately, Trandamere will escape (while his loyal friends
try to kill you). All you can do now is follow the trail to the next town.

                       Hawkbluff

This place isn't any cheerier than New Aurim, but at least there aren't any
bodies in the streets. The inn is a safe place to rest and renew spells if
you need to do that before attempting the dungeons.

Actually, there is only one dungeon here, with three entrances: the military
offices to the north and west, and the temple of Hith to the east. Each of
these requires a different pass for you to get in, and once inside, you will
come across guard posts on all the levels that require other passes. You
cannot get by a guard post unless you have the necessary pass.

The Outer Temple of Hith does not, however, lead to the rest of the dungeon.
When you go up, you end in the room of a lone cleric. Killing him provides a
keyhole pass, but the other door in the room is "securely locked", and you
aren't even given a chance to open it.

While you will need to buy several passes, you can also pick up a couple of
free ones. On level 2, there is an empty room in the functionaries area
where you can grab a lantern pass and a release form for Davik the
architect. Also on this level is a room with a man who asks if he can help
you. Saying "yes" nets you a sword pass.

In most of your wanderings around the dungeon, you won't be bothered unless
you start trouble, so take advantage of this to map thoroughly and
carefully. Once you have the place mapped out, you can go downstairs to the
cells and get Davik. He doesn't show up in the party roster, but he's with
you.

As the architect, he knows all about the secret passages and doors in the
dungeon. The only problem with using these passages is that from time to
time you will run into an undead patrol. This is more likely to happen the
longer you stay in the secret areas, so try to use them sparingly. Camping
in these areas is not recommended.

Once you have Davik with you, sooner or later the real guards will come for
him, and when they see he's gone, the alert will go out. After that, you can
expect encounters at any guardpost and also randomly on the levels (these
random encounters will, however, temporarily clear out any nearby
guardpost).

If you do manage to get out before they seal the doors, you should leave
Hawkbluff, which will remove Davik from the party. This goes on under the
surface; you don't get any message that he isn't with you any longer. If you
didn't cause any other trouble while in the dungeon (such as fighting with
any clerics or Draconians in the rooms), you should be able to get back in
and walk around without having to fight.

You may wonder just why you're in here in the first place. That's easy: you
want the Book of Amrocar. Once you have the book, you will be able to get
into Tremor's lair in Blackwater Glade. Without the book, you don't have a
chance. Currently, this volume is in Trandamere's hands.

Trandamere can be found on the fourth level, in room at the end of the hall
west of the generals' lecture room. After the expected combat, Trandamere
will toss the book into the dumbwaiter and take off. It isn't worth
following him; all that happens is several encounters with guards, ending up
with Trandamere escaping through a portal that then blows up in your face.
Far better to hurry down to the kitchens and grab that book.

Since Davik will be with you again, you can take the fast route from that
room (where you just had the combat) by going through the secret door by
the torch. This will take you quickly and with a minimum of fuss to the
kitchens, where you should find the book in the dumbwaiter. From there,
have Davik lead you to the exit (which can now be opened, as the
instructions are also in the book), and you're out of Hawkbluff, with
no need to return.

                       Blackwater Glade

This one is pretty quick and simple. Now that you have the book, just go
through the ruins to Tremor's lair. You may come across some Bakali
watching another one fight a crocodile single-handed. This is their manhood
rite. If you don't do anything hostile, one member of your party gets to
bear witness to the Bakali's successful fight. This is a by-the-way thing,
and doesn't advance the plot.

You can explore the rest of Blackwater if you want to, but there really
isn't anything of interest outside of Tremor's lair and Clematra's place.
If you entered the Glade in need of R&R, stop off at her room to heal up
and renew spells before going to visit Tremor.

Along the way, you'll run into Baldric the Bard. This is really Baldranous
the silver dragon in his human guise. Grunschka doesn't trust him, but he's
really quite harmless. You can take him into the party if you want (it will
be temporary anyway).

At Tremor's door, he will meet you in person and demand tribute. Whatever
you offer will not be acceptable, and Tremor will breathe on the party
before disappearing into his cave. The word to open the door is on the map;
just type it in backwards.

Inside, just keep going until you reach Tremor. You'll learn why he and his
dragons are such cowards, and what has to be given him to restore the
dragons' courage (bet you already guessed it's that dragon scale you got way
back when in Hulder land). There is one encounter here with Thenol troops,
after which you can trade the dragon scale for a Ring of Wizardry.

Then Tremor has to reassert his authority over an upstart. He does this by
asking one of your party to put a vorpal sword across his neck. Do it
gently, and the sword is yours. With all this taken care of, Baldric directs
you to visit Clematra.

Usually, you would have a chance to rest there, but that opportunity will
not arise. Baldric returns with urgent news, and before you can say "huh?",
the dragons are winging you along to the Gnome tower on the Burning Sea.


             Part III: The Burning Sea

                        Gnome Tower

In the Gnome tower you will be reunited with Captain Daenor, who is still
searching for Crysia, and is willing to rejoin your group. Before you go in
to see the king, however, take time out to fix up the party and save the
game. The reasons for these precautions will become obvious when you go to
kiss the Gnome king's hand: your own ring of deception glows, indicating
(probably to little surprise) that the king is a fake.

Your party has two combats here, back-to-back: first with a small contingent
of Gnome thieflords (easily disposed of with spells), then with the Aurak
and his friends. With that taken care of, you must now search the Gnome
tower for the real king.

First, however, you may want to go to the Guest Room level, where you can
fix up and renew spells at the Sleepy Siren. If people are in need of
training, there is a training hall on the Workshop level, past the pub. The
first time you visit the hall, you'll have to kill off some Gnome thieves.
After that, you won't be bothered.

There is an old crone in one of the rooms on the guest level who has some
magic items for sale at outrageous prices. However, she will also perform
the usual item identification services for the standard fee of 20 steel.

Going to different levels is a pain (literally), since you have to drop down
a shaft (taking damage) before you can go up again. Usually, though, you can
encamp and fix up right there to take care of the injuries.

As you explore the tower, you will find it is crawling with Draconians.
They are all over the place, sometimes in disguise and sometimes as
themselves. Most of these combats are optional; if you'd rather, you can
skip them and go right to the door that leads (eventually) to the Gnome
king.

This is on the guest room level (handy, since you don't have to drop down
the shaft!). There is one locked door, which can be opened with knock or
bashing. Beyond is a second door, magically charged. One dispel magic will
take care of that.

Past the door is the first encounter, with several Draconians and a pair of
Dark Wizards. After you win this one, go right back to the Sleepy Siren to
heal up and renew spells (make sure you learn plenty of healing spells),
because it's about to get VERY nasty.

Return to the room where you just had the combat. At the far door, encamp,
cast all the protective spells you can, and save the game. When you walk
through this door, everyone in the party will be hit with spells for
anywhere between 15-30 or so points of damage. This is another setup; there
is no way to avoid the damage, even with a Globe of Invulnerability.
Everyone is going into combat hurt.

This fight is with more Draconians and a Dark Wizard. When you get through
this one, don't end combat right away. Heal up your people as much as you
can, because there's more to come.

After the treasure screen, you will see the Gnome king come running into the
room with a cube in his hand, apparently about to attack the remaining
Draconians. You get several options here. Pick whatever you like, because as
it was with the recruits in New Aurim, your choice means nothing at all: all
choices lead to combat....and that Gnome King is another fake. He tosses the
cube at you, and again the party takes damage before fighting even starts.
This is why you must continue the first combat and heal people in the party.

When this combat is concluded, go back again to the Siren for R&R. Once your
people are fixed up, you can return to the combat rooms and go through the
final door. Here you see a teleporter that will take you to where the real
king is being held. Naturally, there is a fight almost as soon as you
arrive, featuring yet more Draconians (those dragons sure are prolific egg
layers!).

After the fight, you will be faced with two kings, one real and one fake. I
don't know if the choices here are also fake ones that lead to the same
result; I liked the option to "see who bleeds red" too much try anything
else (heh).

This will expose the Aurak, who teleports away before you can do anything.
After that, you can leave safely with the Gnome king through the teleporter
in the next room.

At this point, heal up, renew spells, get any training done, roam around
looking for combat if party members are near level...because once you reach
the Tower of Flame, there will be no opportunities for training, and not too
many for resting and regaining spells. And it will be awhile before you get
back to the Gnome Tower. When you're ready, go down to the entry level and
meet the king in the windship yards, and you're off.

                   The Tower of Fire

The windship drops you off at the top level of the tower. You won't,
however, be seeing too much of it this time around. As you try to cross the
bridge, Crysia appears on the other side. Daenor, forgetting all caution,
goes charging ahead. Your party is given several options, and I'm sure by
now you know that whatever you choose, the result will be the same: the
bridges falls and your party with it.

This puts you on level 0, and you will have to fight your way up to get back
to level 4 (Daenor mysteriously disappears, and you won't see him again
until you're almost finished with the Tower). Down here are Fire Giants who
are constructing huge siege machines and the like for the Draconians. Just
go through the entire level, wiping out all the giants and golems. Then take
the stairs up to level 1. This is the only time you will be able to use
stairs to ascend; all the other staircases have been sealed off with lava
blocks.

During your journey through the tower, you will occasionally find rooms or
locations where "look" will tell you the place looks defensible, or
defensible and out of the way. This usually means you can fix up here, and
renew spells. That, however, is not an absolute. You could still be
interrupted by a black patrol when you try to heal the party or recover
spells. Always save before you try to use fix or rest. Those black patrols,
by the way, only showed up during such occasions; I never ran into any while
wandering around the tower passages and rooms.

On level 1 you will have several encounters with Beholders, Fire giants, and
golems. Aside from clearing them out, you must also open the siege port in
the SE corner of the level. This will admit a contingent of Gnomes into the
tower. You are also offered the services of six Gnome warriors. I did not
consider it worthwhile to have them with us. They are 14th-level fighters,
but come equipped with plate mail, giving them only 6 moves per round. Also,
having six extra people to control was too much trouble. It's up to you to
decide if you really want these extras or not, but if you choose not, you
won't be offered their services again.

When the level has been cleared out, go through the lava wall into the area
inhabited by various fire creatures. Resist Fire (ring or spell) will keep
your characters from taking damage. Alternatively, you could wait for the
Gnome bucket brigade to make a temporary opening in the wall, but that may
take awhile to happen.

Walk around this area until you find the spot where the Gnomes are setting
up a ladder. Use this ladder to ascend to the next level (this is the only
way you can get up there).

On level 2 you will have encounters with Draconians and dragons. It is also
necessary for your party to clean out the nest of evil mages in the NW, just
below the cells. One encounter with mages will occur when you first enter
this area (so be prepared with defensive spells). After that, head for the
SW corner of the area for the big confrontation.

There are two ways to reach level 3. The first way is to visit the cells, and
free Elea's mother (behind the barred door at the end; all the other cells
are empty. You may be able to fix and rest up in an empty cell). She'll get
you up to three by using the mattress from her cell as a trampoline (after
which, she promptly disappears). The area of 3 that you reach is very small,
and the only way out is the door to the north. Going through it is a one-way
trip, as a pit opens behind you when you stand on the square in front of the
door.

The other way to reach level 3 is in the flame critter area beyond the lava
wall. In about the center of this area is a sort of elevator that runs
between levels 2 and 3. Stepping on the platform automatically takes you to
the other level.

On 3 you will have some very tough fights, all in about the same area. South
of the elevator is the place where Draconians become enchanted by bathing in
the powerful rays of the Grathanich. When you pass through the first
archway, you have an encounter with Draconian guards. After this is over,
find a safe place if you can to heal and rest up.

The second encounter occurs in the font room, which has a skull on the back
wall. This will be a tough combat with enchanted draconians. Again, heal and
rest up after the fight.

The final encounter happens in the area east of the font room, where you
take on the font master and friends (all Draconians, of course). When
they've all been wiped out, fix up your party, then head for the nearest
shaft room. Any one of them will do.

A windship will come up the shaft and take you aboard. This should happen
immediately you enter the room. If it doesn't, that means you missed an
encounter somewhere, and you'll have to go looking for it. Since there are
only three encounters on level 3, the likely place to look is level 2. This
happened to me, since the first time, I didn't clean out the evil mages down
there. I wandered around level 3 for a long time (after killing off all the
Draconians) with nothing happening. Finally I went back down and cleared out
the wizards. Bingo! That caused the windship to make its appearance. Of
course, I still had to look in the shaft room (I was feeling desperate by
this time and thinking of jumping down a shaft, just to see if that would
make a difference).

When you reach level 4, an interesting scene unfolds in front of you. Daenor
comes rushing into the room, followed by a small horde of Draconians, along
with Crysia, who is still in their power. Naturally, he comes to a stop at
the open pit in the floor. No one sees your party, as the windship is
floating above all this.

Crysia is ordered to burn Daenor. Your party has the opportunity to stop
her. The best way is to cast Dispel Magic on Crysia. This dissolves the
Charm Person spell, and she will abort her fireball. Then, while the
Draconians are in some confusion, attack them. Daenor will join your group
automatically (Crysia does not take part in the combat).

When it's over, Daenor escorts Crysia to the windship, but a small mishap
sends the ship with all aboard up the shaft and out of the tower. You will
have to go on alone from here.

Where you are at the moment is where you were way back when you first
entered the tower. However, this time, the bridge will not collapse on you.
You should find it in the other pit room (just exit and walk around to the
other one).

This will take you to a corridor that has lava wallson both sides. Follow
the corridor around until you reach the center, then go south through the
wall. Continue south until you reach the end. Here you will have
back-to-back combats with a variety of monsters, including several
Beholders. These are not, surprisingly, as bad as you may be expecting
(although, of course, not exactly easy ;).

When the combats are finished, you will be pulled into the Abyss.

                          The Abyss

You may recall that way, way back, when you were adventuring in Naudilus,
there was a moment when Daenor and Crysia were mentally in touch with each
other. Then someone else looked briefly through Crysia's eyes at the party.
That someone was Raistlin Majere, currently a prisoner in the Abyss. Despite
his situation, he has managed to summon you here to rescue him.

The moment you arrive here, camp out, save the game, and do the usual R&R to
restore hit points and spells. Once you have freed Raistlin, you will NOT
have the opportunity to do any fixes or spell renewals, so get it done now.

After that, start walking east until you see a wall. Follow it around to the
door. Inside is a free-standing cube. Three of the walls are fake walls and
you can walk right through them. Since a hard fight is about to happen, I
suggest entering the cube from either the east or the west to give your
party the best position possible.

Inside the cube is Raistlin and the critters that guard him. Some are
Draconians. Others are not. Things are not what they seem in the Abyss, and
while these other creatures look like one thing, they are really something
else. For instance, the white dragon is actually a death dragon. The Disliki
are actually fire minions. You can find out what things are by targeting
them. The Draconians, though, are real Draconians.

This fight will be tough because magic is damped in this room, so spells
don't work. Of course, that means the Draconians can't cast spells either,
but with several enchanted Bozaks and Sivaks around, that hardly matters.
Try to get at least some of the Bozaks down before they get too close to
your group.

When it's over, you can free Raistlin and be on your way to the chambers of
Takhisis. Do NOT try to fix up the party from this point on. Every time you
try, you will be attacked by several Dark Wizards (who look like skeletal
warriors), and your people are not likely to survive all those DBF's.

Takhisis is further east of where you pick up Rasitlin. Camp out in front of
the door, and heal up everyone in the party with individual healing spells.
Try to get everyone back up to maximum or as close as possible.

When you enter, Takhisis is doing some business of her own and won't notice
you. Since she's a god, I do not recommend trying to attack. Instead, sneak
around her (going to the left worked for me) until you come to the cloudy
mirror. This is the portal back to the Tower of Fire.

You can't use the portal until it becomes clear, so just wait awhile.
Rasitlin will throw a rock at the bell and miss. Pick someone with good dex
to make the next try. When Takhisis wakes from her trance, move towards the
portal (or you'll take some damage, which you can't afford).

Then she'll become aware of you, and she and Rasitlin will start their
magical duel. Don't get involved in this; these two are well above any
magical abilities you have. Just keep waiting until the mirror is clear.
You will take some damage while you wait; this can't be avoided. When the
bell goes off, jump through the portal.

                   Tower of Fire Redux

So now you're back on level 4. Around you are Gnomes, kneeling before the
tripod that contains the legendary Grathanich. DO NOT investigate that
tripod just yet. Camp and save the game!! You won't have a chance to fix
up the party, so if you have any healing spells left, use them now. Also
use any protective spells, as well as any scrolls of protection from
Dragon Breath.

Okay, now you can send someone up to look at the tripod. What's in there is
an egg (the Grathanich is below it). The egg will hatch, and something
REALLY mean comes out. Can you say Tiamat? I knew you could. For those
unacquainted with the AD&D monsters, Tiamat is the chromatic dragon of five
heads: green, blue, red, white, and black, each corresponding to that type
of dragon, with that dragon's abilities. Tiamat will go first in the opening
round.

Don't even think of going after the body. With an AC of -40, you aren't
going to hit it. Just go after the heads. You have to kill all five of them
to kill Tiamat. Even with dragonlances, it will not be an easy task.

Now, you may think this was the big ending battle. Nope. There is more to
come. While the Gnomes watch, the Grathanich floats out of the tripod, then
sinks through the floor. They all go running after it, leaving you alone.
This is a good time to fix up the party (I hope they all survived Tiamat).

What you have to do is find the Grathanich. I spent a lot of time wandering
through the tower, looking for this thing. As it turns out, the big action
occurs down on level 2, in or near the dark wizard area, so that's where you
should head (the Gnomes have forced openings in the sealed stairways, so you
can now use them to go between levels).

Along the way, you will come across a pair of Draconians who ask for a
parley. They set up a mirror so you can communicate with Takhisis (she won
the fight with Raistlin). It doesn't matter what you do here, since you'll
have a combat with Draconians and others. Rest up afterwards.

Finally, you get down to where the action is taking place. An odd
contraption is slowly enclosing the Grathanich. Draconians and dragons are
all around to keep interlopers (like you) from interfering. Naturally, you
have to interfere, to the tune of two or three (I lost count) back-to-back
combats with the evil hordes.

In the midst of all this, a windship arrives and tries tipping the iron
flower (which has enclosed the Grathanich) into the depths of the earth.
A line becomes snarled, and one of your party has one chance to free it
before the windship is dragged down with the flower. As usual, I picked
one of the Elves (that 19 dex is so useful) to do the job.

The remaining evil critters are then trashed by Takhisis, who is slightly
less than thrilled by the failure of her minions. After this, you can board
the windship for the trip back to the Gnome tower.

                     Gnome Tower Redux

Once back among the Gnomes, get your people healed up, rested, and trained
as necessary. You will be pleased to know that the regular elevator is now
working again, so won't have to drop through the shaft to get around.

When your party is fit and ready, head up to the palace for the big
celebrations. In the middle of all the fun and joy, there comes a rude
interruption.

Remember Tremor? Well, now that he has his courage back, and the
Draconians have been defeated, he has decided to take over, starting with
the Gnome tower. Then Baldric shows up, assumes his regular dragon form,
and he and Tremor duke it out in the skies above the tower...leaving your
merry group to take on the small army of dragons that Tremor brought with
him.

After all you've been through to this point, the dragons should be a piece
of cake, especially since you can really go to town with your spells. When
it's over, you can watch the conclusion of the Tremor-Baldranous event,
where Baldranous rips the iron scale from Tremor's chest, depriving him
once again of his intestinal fortitude. Tremor and the remainder of his
dragon horde slink off into the sunset.

That finishes up Dark Queen, although you are still able to wander around,
and even go back to Taladas if you wish. Unfortunately, I didn't find any
special areas that opened up at the end, and you still can't get into the
lands of the Armach Elves. Hawkbluff is deserted, with the dungeon entrances
shut off. New Aurim is closed, period. Kristophan is still under the
minotaurs. Etc. If anyone does happen to chance upon something special that
appears after the finale, please let me know.


This walkthru is copyrighted 1992 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.
Dark Queen of Krynn is copyrighted 1992 by SSI Inc.

[FIXED BY BASER EVIL]