|
Hordkhen's Castle
Whether you roll up your own party or use the default party, you'll begin the game just outside Hordkhen's Castle. After reading through the opening dialogue, head forward, cross the drawbridge and enter the castle. In the first room, use the Look Icon (eyeball) and you'll be told that a strong energy field is blocking your path (the electricty lines seen in the doors). A voice says, "Touch my sign". Walk up to any of the orange symbols on the wall and use the Look Icon again, and you'll be told that from Left to Right, the symbols are Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. Since Hordkhen is the Earth Prince, move to the second symbol from the left and use the Touch Icon (looks like a finger pushing a button). This will deactivate the force field and allow you to pass. If you want, you can take the Buckler from the wall and equip it. Enter the middle door, the one that has stairs inside of it.
In the next room, you'll be attacked by an enemy. You should allow your party to fight as much as possible to earn levels, money, and items. When the monster is gone, take the west exit. The enemy in the next room will threaten you, but it will run away after a few moments. Take the west exit again.
An enemy will attack you in the next room. Kill it and a key will appear on the table. Take the key and exit south.
The Earth Prince Hordkhen will be in the next room. Despite the rather unwelcome greetings you got from his underlings, he actually seems glad to see you and asks for you to check on his sister, Princess Hordkha, in a castle to the east. At this point you can choose to leave the castle or explore it further. Remember that you can leave a castle at any time by clicking the door icon on the menu.
NOTE: If you need help exploring Hordkhen's Castle, see the maps section.
When you're done in the castle, leave and turn west until you see a pathway. Although you were told Hordkha's castle is to the east, you'll actually want to go west to reach it because a glowing road patrolled by the Dragon Gods divides the middle of the Earth Area, and while it can be passed with some trickery, it's much easier to do this the "correct" way.
Anyway, start walking along the western path and follow it all the way to the end, fighting enemies and talking to wandering travelers along the way. When you reach the end where you can see the edge of the ocean, turn north and keep going until you see four arrows on the ground. Step in the middle of the arrows and your party will be magically transported to the opposite end of the map.
When you arrive at the other transporter, turn around and head south until you reach an intersection. Turn west and follow the path all the way to the end. You'll find another castle that looks identical to Hordkhen's.
A servant at the castle will tell you that it was attacked by Haaggkhen's troops. Princess Hordkha was captured and taken to Haaggkhen's Castle. The servant tells you to inform Prince Hordkhen of this news. Leave the castle and head back to the transporter.
Follow the trails back to Hordkhen's Castle. When you reach the entrance, you'll notice a shark has appeared in the moat. If you try to cross the bridge, there's a good chance the shark will kill your character instantly. The way to surpass this obstacle is to place one character at the foot of the bridge and wait for the shark to pass underneath of it. The moment the shark appears on the right side of the bridge, quickly run across into the entrance.
Return to Prince Hordkhen's room. He won't be happy to hear the news, but he will instruct you to go to Haaggkhen's Castle and rescue his sister. He will power up your party so that you will now be able to leave the Earth Area (if you had tried to go beyond the boundaries of the Earth Area before now, your party would have been pushed back in automatically.)
Leave Hordkhen's Castle and take a look at the map. See that castle that is directly northwest of Hordkhen's Castle, near a single house, one area north on the map (the Water Area)? Just get going towards it. Since there is no Glowing Road to bug you and you can now cross the Earth Area's boundaries, there's nothing to stop you.
When you arrive at Haaggkhen's Castle, the drawbridge will promptly close. Hopefully by now you've gained enough experience fighting enemies that at least one of your characters has the Unlock spell. Use it to open the drawbridge. Otherwise, you'll have to go off and level-build until you earn it.
Once inside the castle you'll be presented with the same conundrum as the first room of Hordkhen's Castle. You'll need to touch the Water sign, the triangle farthest to the right, to deactivate the energy fields. Go through the north door.
In the next room, the north door is locked. Once again, use the Unlock spell to open it and go through it. Take the west exit in the following room.
The next room has two doors with the letters "Sn" and "Sc" over them. Take the "Sn" door on the left. In the following room, with the checkerboard floor, quickly exit through the north door. This room constantly drains your HP and has a bat enemy that endlessly respawns. Staying too long will be fatal for your party.
In the room with the pretty outdoor view, take the west exit. Take the south exit in the next room with the single chair. You can look at the red dots in these rooms to read some messages about the game's story.
If you talk to the monster in the next room twice, you can fight and kill it. Exit through the west door. In the next room, take either of the two southern exits.
The next room has a large stove with an enemy inside of it. This enemy is very difficult to kill, so I would suggest ignoring it. Cast the Unlock spell to open the southern door and go through it. There's not much to do in the next room, so just take the southern exit again.
Another room with a large stove. Step into the stove to activate a hidden switch. Once again, the stove enemy is hard to kill, so I suggest ignoring it and taking the east exit. Kill the enemy in the following room with the double stove and take the southern door.
Kill the pack of rats in the next room and cast Unlock again to open the east door. Go through it. There's nothing of interest in the next room, so just exit south.
There's nothing special in the room with the pool and chain, so just go south again. Cast Unlock in the coffin room to unlock the eastern door and exit. Note: If you touch the coffin, you'll be attacked by an enemy. You can do this as many times as you want.
Switch control to the character in your party that has the Light spell and cast it (should be your Scout). Walk that character over to the fountain in the middle of the room and examine it. That character will be transported to another room of the castle. This room has several feet of water on the floor and a Water Elemental enemy. The water will drain your HP constantly and the enemy can be tough to kill. Immediately head towards the western door and don't stop to fight. Hopefully, you will be able to reach the door before the enemy blocks it or your HP runs out.
The next room is a prison. Walk over to the switch on the wall near the door you came in through and select to use it from the menu. This will open the jail cell and free a prisoner who was being held inside. He tells you that Princess Hordkhen had been taken to Princess Naakhtkha's Castle, but he doesn't know where it is. So, he suggests you ask her brother, Prince Naakhtkhen, who lives in a castle to the northeast. This will be your next destination. Choose the door from the menu to exit the castle.
Take a look at your map again and make note of the castle that's the farthest north and east on the map, situated amongst a group of houses. That is Prince Naakhtkhen's Castle. Head towards it.
When you get close to it, you'll see that it's a large ice palace. Enter and you'll discover that it's been destroyed by the Fire Troops. Prince Naakhtkhen will meet you at the door and tell you to head west to his sister, Princess Naakhtkha's Castle to find Hordkha. Note that if you attempted to enter Naakhtkha's Castle before coming here first, guards would block your progress at the entrance, but Naakhtkhen will eliminate the guards.
Take a look at the map again and you'll notice another castle pretty much directly west of the one you're at. Head to it.
It's another ice palace. Enter and touch the third triangle from the left (the Air sign) to deactivate the barrier. Go through the north door.
Kill the enemy in the room and cast the Unlock spell. Exit north. There's nothing much to do in the next room so just go north again (either door).
Cast the Unlock spell and go east. An old man appears in the next room and gives you a very vague clue about something. When he's done talking, go north.
Kill the enemy in the room and go north. The next room has two levers on the rear wall. Use the one on the right. A message will say that a door has opened somewhere.
Now, go back the way you came, South 2 rooms, West 1, and South 2 rooms again. You should be in the same room where you fought an armored Drakkhen warrior earlier. This time, take the east exit. Kill the enemy in the next room and some armor and shields will appear on the back wall. Take whatever you want and go south. Note that if you had visited this room before turning the lever, the southern exit would not be there.
Kill the enemy in the room with two beds and exit east. Kill the enemy in this room and exit south.
The enemies in this room never stop spawning, so just cast Unlock and exit west. Kill the enemy in the next room, cast Unlock again, and exit south.
Nothing in the next room, so just exit south. Cast Unlock in the Hot Springs room and exit east.
Nothing in the room with the candles, so go south again. Kill the bat in the first of the dungeon rooms and go south once more.
Other than some mysterious messages written on the coffins, there's nothing much of interest in this room, so go south yet again. A message says you can hear noises in the next room, so you'll want to go east of course. Cast Unlock and move on through.
Surprise! Princess Hordkha is in the final room. The long convoluted wild goose chase finally comes to a close. Talk to her and she'll give you the First Tear.
Talk to her again and she will teleport to Haaggkha's Palace (which can make one wonder what she needed you to rescue her for), and she'll also instruct you to go to Haaggkha as well. Leave the castle with the door icon on the menu. Congratulations, end of Part 1.
GO TO PART 2: THE SECOND & THIRD TEARS
| 
